The Butler Bureau of Fire is getting a new emergency reporting system that will soon be a state requirement.

Butler City Council approved an agreement with Locality Media at a meeting Thursday, June 15, for a one-year contract for use of its First Due record management system, at a cost of $15,350.

Councilman Larry Christy said the bureau is trying to get ahead of the statewide shift to new software, even though it is more expensive than the current one used by city firefighters.

“This is replacing the current emergency reporting software the state is no longer planning to be using and they are moving up to new software,” Christy said.

Chris Switala, chief of the Butler Bureau of Fire, said the cost to use the system will change next year, but could still be a little more than the subscription cost. He added that the cost is a little more because of the system’s cybersecurity.

“There is going to be some additional cost next year on top of this — some of the cost will go away because this has some one-time fees of about $1,500 to $2,000 for the initial setup,” Switala said. “We don’t have the inspection module included in here now just to save money, so that way we have it in the budget for next year.”

The bureau has several state reporting requirements that have to be met, according to Switala, and administrators keep up with them to maintain its responder status.

“The EMS patient care reports go to the Department of Health in the state,” Switala said, “and we have to do those to maintain our Department of Health licensure to be a first-responding agency for EMS.”

Council also discussed the creation of a Facebook page for the bureau of fire. Switala said the page would be used strictly for public relations and safety messages, and as a tool for firefighter recruitment — which has been a challenge for the department recently.

“Most of the younger people that are applying for firefighter jobs, they’re not looking in advertising anywhere, they’re looking on Facebook,” Switala said. “That’s the primary drive, is for recruitment, secondarily would be public relations to post our activities, involvement in community events and things like that.”

Council will vote on the creation of the Facebook page at its next meeting, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 29.