When SNOCOM executive director Debbie Grady started her emergency dispatch career 17 years ago, there were a lot of notebooks, pens and paper in the process. 

Emergency services have evolved along with the technology age, with virtually everything computerized now.

"Now it looks like a Star Trek command panel, with multiple computer screens," she said of the dispatchers' workstations that can access information from all over the United States.

Even that current system seems archaic compared to what SNOCOM is about to roll out for 2011.

The New World System, as it's called, will bring all Snohomish County emergency-related data into one single database, according to what Grady and her colleagues told Mukilteo City Council Monday. 

That includes all city police and fire departments from both SNOCOM and SNOPAC (the county's other dispatch center), Washington State Patrol and the Department of Corrections.

Making use of technology, future 911 contacts could come in the form of phone calls, text messages and e-mails, Grady said Monday.

"Streaming video will allow the dispatcher to see exactly what is happening on site," she said.

Right now, vehicle alert systems such as OnStar automatically notify those companies when someone is in an accident; eventually those calls will go directly to dispatch centers, Grady said.

Automated field reporting will turn every police squad car, fire truck and ambulance into a mobile office, information services manager Terry Peterson told the council.

While technology has greatly improved emergency service providers' toolboxes, it's also made their jobs even more challenging.

In the early years, calls came from landlines that are hardwired to specific addresses. With enhanced 911, the address pops up on the dispatcher's screen.

However, calls from cell phones could come from anywhere, and if the reporting party isn't able to give their location, emergency responders must try to narrow down the location of the signal.

Computer-based phones, such as what Vonage and Comcast offer, can be even more confusing - it's up to the customer to ensure their provider has the correct address associated with that number. 

"If they have the incorrect address registered with their provider, that's what shows up on our system," Grady said. "Those calls can literally come from anywhere in the world."

Of course, it all comes at a price. Countywide, the upgraded system will cost $7.9 million to roll out, of which $2.7 million SNOPAC will pay based on its portion of the county's call load.

Of that, Mukilteo will pay 11 percent, including a $53,061 assessment for 2010.

Mayor Joe Marine, who is on the SNOCOM board of directors, said that money is already included in the 2010 city budget.

Right now, SNOCOM's operating budget and the New World system budget are separate; eventually SNOCOM will roll them together once the whole system is up and running.

This year's regular budget is $4,461,521, of which Mukilteo's assessment is $390,695.

Mukilteo accounted for 14 percent of the dispatch center's 255,495 calls in 2009, averaging 67 of the 480 average daily call load.

SNOCOM was established in 1971, the first consolidated dispatch center in the county. It serves seven cities including Mukilteo and contracts with Fire District 1.

Mukilteo switched from SNOPAC to SNOCOM a few years ago. According to Police Chief Michael Murphy, that was based on both costs and formation of the governing board.

"Cities like Mukilteo actually have a representative on the SNOCOM board," he explained. "With SNOPAC, all of the smaller cities share just one representative instead of individual representation."

That stronger voice on the board also costs the city less than working with SNOPAC, he said.

However, Marine reminded SNOCOM that while our city pays close to the same amount of money based on similar call load, Mountlake Terrace has two members on the board to Mukilteo's one.

Chief Murphy is an alternate on the board, as are fire chief Michael Springer and city administrator Joe Hannan.

SNOPAC and SNOCOM have a good working relationship, Grady said, including each having backup systems so they can accommodate one another should something happen to one of the centers.

The New World system will only strengthen that partnership, she said.