Morton County commissioners agreed Monday to merge Mandan's emergency dispatch workers with county communications employees, but haggled over what the 911 director's salary would be.

The commission entered into a memorandum of understanding with Mandan to transition the six city dispatch workers into county workers every January over the next three years.

Commissioners were a little more uncertain about a proposal to increase Tammy Lapp-Harris' salary by $8,000 because she would assume new duties.

Harris explained both sets of employees already are on the second floor of the Law Enforcement Center in Mandan. "Half the room is run by the city. Half the room is run by the county," she said.

Harris said the cost savings to the city and the county is $92,460. The two governments will split the annual operation costs of $780,000.

She said she is aware of two city employees who would be interested in transferring in January of 2009. "In this MOU, it states they have the chance to switch on Jan. 1 of any year for three consecutive years.

"This agreement is in place for three years."

All 911 funds collected by Morton County are to be used to off-set the operations of the center and to create a reserve fund for the center.

She said there were concerns among some city employees that they would see pay cuts due to less insurance benefits. "They did ask we take that into consideration and keep them on their payroll.

"We are going to keep the same amount of dispatchers. It's just where they are getting paid. We gave them the option - if they want to stay on the city payment, they can do that, or they can come over to the county. The whole works will be supervised by the county," Harris said.

Dave Stevens, who is contracted by the county to oversee its human resources, said it might be best if her position would be reclassified and her pay adjusted if needed.

"An increase of this magnitude would require a reclassification of her position," Stevens said. "We would have to reclassify the emergency communication manager position.

"We worked hard to have an orderly salary progression in the county," Stevens said. "This raise screws up the classification."

He said his concerns did not reflect on Harris' performance. "I think she has done an excellent job."

It was asked if Harris could handle being both emergency manager and 911 coordinator. Harris said she has been. "If it does get to be too overwhelming, I will be the first one to come in and say, 'Can you hire somebody?' "

The commission approved the merger but requested Harris' salary go to committee.

The Mandan City Commission approved the agreement last week.

Harris said the agreement can be renewed in three years. She said inventory will be carefully done to ensure it is known where the equipment belongs.

She said the county commission would decide if the center will serve other counties.

Harris said the merger did not affect the proposed addition to the law enforcement center.

(Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 250-8264 or leann.eckroth@;bismarcktribune.com)