The Mandan City Commission will consider a request tonight to advertise for bids on the electrical and mechanical improvements of the Mandan Water Treatment Plant optimization.

With the board's nod, bids would be received and opened Dec. 9 and are scheduled to be awarded Dec. 16.

Gary Zander, superintendent of the Mandan water treatment plant, estimated that this portion of the project could cost $500,000.

The entire cost of the water treatment plant improvements is projected at $3.5 million.

"Four filters will be replaced and modernized and chemical feeders will be replaced," he said. "It also will replace the accelerators. This is the area that mixes the chemical into the raw water."

Zander said much of this equipment is more than 50 years old and due for new materials.

He added that the project will add pumps that boost the water plant's ability to transport water to the Collins Avenue reservoir.

Plant improvements are slated for completion by September 2009.

The commission also will revisit its options for a merger between Morton County and the city of Mandan communications operations staff.

"We're asking them to approve a memorandum of understanding, approve the merger and approve the proposed budget for the communications center," said Mandan Police Chief Dennis Bullinger.

The idea is to blend staff from the city dispatch system to the county-wide system over three years, beginning Jan. 1, 2009.

In a previous meeting, the Mandan City Commission endorsed the merger concept, but asked officials to return with more specific budget figures.

With one employee making the move into the county system on Jan. 1, 2009, Bullinger estimated it would save the city $53,698 and the employee would gain $2,800 in salary and benefits. Bullinger said the city also would save on operational expenses.

The agreement would allow additional employees to merge in January 2010 and January 2011. By January 2012, the merger of dispatch employees would be required of the city workers.

The center would be governed by a three-member board which includes the city fire chief, police chief and Morton County Sheriff Dave Shipman. Morton County Emergency Manager Tammy Lapp-Harris would head the combined communication center.

Budgets for the center would be approved by both the city and county boards.

Bullinger said this provides the communications system a more consistent pool of workers and saves the entities overtime. "Instead of six workers, you'd have 12. It will make it easier to schedule," he said.

Thirdly, the commission will review recommendations made about the operation agreement for the Mandan Community Center from the Community Center Advisory Board.

The advisory board suggested the current three-year agreement be extended 12 months. In the agreement, the city, Mandan School District and city park district split costs for the building.

The short-term agreement will raise subsidy costs for each entity by 3 percent for cost-of-living expenses.

The city owns the 35-year-old building and shares in its operation expenses, a repair fund and a long-term debt of renovations that totals more than $1.5 million.

The city recently offered to sell the community center for $1, to forfeit its ownership to the park board.

After a friendly negotiation, the joint board proposed to continue the three-leg pact one more year to better determine the fate of the building.

Mayor Tim Helbling said more than 90 percent of the functions at the community center are recreation-related and have little to do with city functions.

The city of Mandan's share consists of $50,265 in subsidy payments, $5,000 for the long-term maintenance fund and $69,630 to repay the remaining $1.5 million in long-term debt for repairs made to the building.

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