The Williamsport Bureau of Fire will have an agreement with a software system provider to record fire and emergency medical service calls, creating a report required from the state in order to be eligible for grants.

Fire Chief Tracey Harer presented the request to the city council for a resolution of an agreement between the bureau and a company called ESO for a cost not to exceed $14,342.

This was previously brought to council last year as an annual subscription. It is for recording software for fire and EMS incidents. The bureau’s required to record the incidents to the state to be eligible for grants, Harer said.

Councilwoman Liz Miele asked where the funding is coming from and Harer said it will be taken from out of the bureau budget.

This company purchased a previous company that the city was using, Harer said.

When the resolution was completed last year, it was not done as an annual subscription, so it had to be brought back before council to keep it under the same budget number.

Council President Eric Beiter asked whether the software will be used for recording incidents in South Williamsport now that the bureau is responding to the neighboring borough. Harer said it is and added it can record each unit whether there’s overtime or whether it’s normal staff.

“It will be nice to see how this recording software works when we get our first quarterly report from you,” Beiter said.

“So it will allow us to track actual costs, such as overtime, versus regular hours?” Miele asked.

Harer said the software will enable the bureau to see if incidents require overtime or when “we have enough staff on that date.”