State's Attorney Raises Concerns about County Landscaping Contract

A state investigation found no criminal wrongdoing when a Burleigh County commissioner’s business was awarded a county construction contract in North Dakota, but a review of the decision did raise transparency concerns.

“There exists a pattern of inadvertence or perhaps negligence in how the Bitco Construction matter was handled,” McLean County State’s Attorney Ladd Erickson said in a letter to Burleigh County State’s Attorney Richard Rhia about his review of the investigation.

Bitco Construction, Commissioner Brian Bitner’s company, was paid $19,510 for landscaping work at the Burleigh Morton Detention Center.

Burleigh County Auditor Kevin Glatt said he noticed the payment in a routine review of the weekly expenditures and became concerned because state law says public servants can't authorize contracts in which they have a personal interest.

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