SETTLED: Manteca will begin sending its medical calls to American Medical Response dispatchers, shown above at the company's dispatch center in Salida, after the city settled a lawsuit with the county this week. 

MANTECA — A two-year-old lawsuit over how to handle local 911 calls was finally settled this week, with the city of Manteca agreeing to San Joaquin County’s original demands.

Manteca must begin routing medical emergency calls to a dispatch center in Salida run by American Medical Response, according to the agreement, instead of to Stockton Fire Department’s dispatching center.

The City Council voted unanimously for the settlement at its Monday, April 21, meeting.

In April 2006, San Joaquin County sued Manteca and other cities, including Stockton and Lodi, which had refused to make the switch. The county claimed that its plan to direct all county medical calls to a single dispatcher was backed by a state law that went into effect at the beginning that year.

County Emergency Medical Services Administrator Dan Burch said this week that the settlement provided “exactly what we’ve been asking for all along,” but was disappointed that it took so much work.

“I don’t know why it took two years to get it done,” Burch said.

Lodi has agreed to a similar settlement, Burch said, but Stockton is still holding out.

Manteca has been using the Stockton Fire Department to handle both medical and fire 911 calls after they are answered at the city police department.

The rationale behind the lengthy lawsuit has changed over the past two years, but the city’s unwavering commitment to it has not.

Retired Manteca Fire Chief George Quaresma had initially opposed the county’s order because he believed it would delay firefighters if they were told about medical emergencies after the ambulances.

But once the computer link was set up to alert both firefighters and ambulances about the emergency at the same time,

Quaresma complained that switching to AMR would force the city to illegally break its dispatching contract with the Stockton Fire Department.

After the contract expired, Quaresma argued that the fight was about asserting the city’s right to control its 911 calls.

He also said it would be difficult for police dispatchers in Manteca to distinguish between fire and medical emergencies.

In October, Quaresma went into mediation sessions with the county, along with Lodi and Stockton, and both sides agreed to an outline of the settlement, according to a city staff report and Burch.

Quaresma, who retired in December, was on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

Interim Fire Chief Chris Haas said he was not aware of all of the issues surrounding the dispatching dispute, but he agreed with Quaresma’s recommendation to settle.

Asking the police dispatchers to distinguish between medical emergencies and fire emergencies would not be a problem, Haas said.

Police Chief Charlie Halford also agreed that the new arrangement would not delay responses by more than 10 seconds.

Haas said that he was confident in AMR dispatchers’ ability to handle calls, but refused to say whether they would be an improvement over the Stockton Fire Department.

“I’m completely neutral,” Haas said. “We’ll wait and see.”

Stockton Fire Department officials have been loudly critical of AMR’s dispatchers, especially after one case in October 2006 when AMR sent ambulances and firefighters to the wrong address for a heart-attack victim, who died before anyone could reach her.

Some have also suggested that the opposition was largely about money — who would get the lucrative contracts to handle 911 calls.

Haas said the fire department hoped to have the new system up and running by July 1.