Burleigh and Morton counties are looking at a cooperative effort that potentially may encompass several areas, including a regional jail.

Morton Commissioners Matt Erhardt and Mark Bitz, along with auditor Paul Trauger, attended the Burleigh County Commission on Wednesday night, proposing to co-op for human resources and risk-management services.

Morton's human resources director recently resigned, leaving the county to fill the position. Commissioners feel a full-time human resources position is more than Morton needs and have been exploring a possible co-op with the city of Mandan, or even hiring a private consultant to handle the duties.

"I've given this some serious thought," Erhardt said. "In the past, we had a shared human resources person with Burleigh County, and I thought it was going real well. But then Burleigh decided to opt out, and we kept the human resources person. Now she's taken a job elsewhere. For us, it is very expensive, and you already have a qualified director and staff. So we thought we'd ask you to reconsider sharing the human resources department."

Erhardt said that sharing with Mandan didn't appear feasible because the two jurisdictions didn't share that many similar problems.

"But the problems that arise in Morton are the same that arise in your county,"Erhardt said. "We don't have as many people in our county as you do, maybe a third. We need to look after our expenses. Money is getting tight. I think if we can get this going, maybe we could look into other areas; we'd like to co-op as much as two counties can, and it would be beneficial for both of us."

Trauger said Morton's human resources director handled risk-management issues, as does Burleigh's. But while Mandan does have a human resources person, he is not responsible for risk management.

Commissioner Doug Schonert said he had a brief discussion with Burleigh's HR director, Terry Czonek, about the possibility.

"Terry had a hundred and one questions and suggested we set up a committee to look at it, with which I agree,"Schonert said. "But if we do do this, it should be based on contracting services. For example, Morton contracts with us because we've hired the person. At some point, either one of us might want to break out of the co-op, and this would make it easier. We don't want to tie anyone into something they can't get out of. But perhaps we can save some money."

Morton has 164 county employees, while Burleigh about 265. When the counties last shared the human resources department, Morton paid 45 percent of the cost and Burleigh 55 percent.

Erhardt said that the counties are successfully sharing the superintendent of schools position and he said he feels other areas may be brought into a cooperative agreement, including the possibility of a regional jail. Both counties are experiencing growing pains and the need for more prisoner cell space.

Trauger asked that the committee be formed and meet within the next week or two. Burleigh Commissioners Schonert and Jim Peluso were appointed to the committee.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)