Members of the North Dakota Division of Emergency Services and the National Guard's adjutant general's office were surprised by Morton County Commissioner Matt Erhardt's interest in luring them to Mandan.

At Monday's meeting of the county commission, Erhardt said the state Division of Emergency Services, formerly the Division of Emergency Management, was looking to move its operations to a new facility.

He wanted the commission and city of Mandan to encourage the agency to build its new facility in Mandan, even asking that Bismarck-Mandan Development Association President Russ Staiger look into it.

After reading the article in Tuesday's Bismarck Tribune, National Guard Deputy Adjutant General Jerry Engelman called a meeting of staff to quash the report of the move - emergency services comes under the auspices of the state's adjutant general.

"I have no idea what's going on," Engelman said. "There are no plans for moving the Division of Emergency Services. I've been trying to get a hold of Matt Erhardt, and I've talked to the county auditor. I'm going to send them a letter clarifying this."

Since emergency services is going through a restructuring, Engelman said he didn't want the staff thinking they also were going to be moved from their offices at Fraine Barracks. Engelman also said he would be sending a letter to North Dakota Legislative Council, suspecting legislators may be wondering where emergency services got the money for such a move.

Later, Erhardt said he was mistaken in saying the emergency services agency was moving and that, in fact, it was North Dakota's Weights and Measures that was looking for a new location in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

Public Service Commis-sioner Tony Clark confirmed this, saying the Legislature approved the building of a new lab for weights and measures.

"Here's what we're looking at," Clark said.

"Either Bismarck or Mandan could end up with a new weights and measures lab. The PSC received money from the Legislature to get a new lab. The current one is just not up to snuff. Currently, it's on the Capitol grounds and is sharing a building with the state fleet. We've worked for a number of years to get a new lab, and we're going to or maybe already have sent out a RFP (request for proposal) to developers to develop a suitable facility for Weights and Measures."

Clark said there are many reasons to keep the new lab in the Bismarck-Mandan area, one of them being the new Northern Plains Commerce Centre. Weights and measures has two full-time employees in Bismarck and inspectors located around the state who annually check any weight or measurement device used for commercial purposes.

"When you buy a gallon of gas at a service station, weights and measures makes sure the gallon is a gallon. Or when you buy a pound of bananas at a grocery store, it is a pound," Clark said.

North Dakota commercial endeavors have a choice of contracting with the state or a private company to confirm their devices are accurate.

The weights and measures lab also tests the devices that private companies use to test commercial devices.

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