First responders in Sedalia will soon have the means to signal stop lights in the city of their need to pass through an intersection to respond to an emergency.

The Sedalia City Council approved the purchase of a citywide Opticom pre-emption system during their meeting Monday night. Interim City Administrator Matthew Wirt says the system is designed to reduce response times to emergency calls.

The system will go onto the city’s stoplights along Main Street, as well as signals at 3rd and Ohio and 5th and Ohio. Nearly every other stoplight in Sedalia is along a MoDOT-maintained roadway. Wirt says the agreement includes the means to tie into MoDOT’s system, as well as an opportunity for other first responders in the county to also use it.

The Opticom system will total $235,338.65 and was included in the budget for Sedalia’s new fiscal year that began last week.