County picks architect for jail, public works facility

Public meeting April 21

Roy Blythe must like it here in Gunnison County. Now that he and his company, Blythe Group & Co., have nearly finished in their role at the school district’s facilities renovations, he’s moving on to the County Detention Center and Public Works Facility.

The Gunnison Board of County Commissioners agreed on Tuesday, March 30 to pursue Blythe Group & Co. as its architect for both projects, citing the cohesiveness of the company’s team and their experience.
“Throughout the interview process Blythe stood out as addressing some of the concerns that we put out,” Gunnison County Manager Matthew Birnie told the commissioners, adding that commissioners had approached each firm looking at experience with jail construction and biomass systems.
Birnie chose the architect with the help of Mike Mismash of Project One, which is serving as the county’s owner’s representative for both projects, which are going to be designed and built through a similar process, using the same companies and contractors.
After receiving around 16 responses to the initial application, that prospective group was quickly pared down to seven firms due to the qualifications and resources necessary to take on the two distinct parts of a $14 million capital improvement project.
After seeing six preliminary proposals from the firms, Birnie and Mismash said they were comfortable interviewing four of the applicants Friday, March 26. When all was said and done, it was Blythe who showed the best team and the best proposal to take the projects forward.
“We’re at a point where, assuming we have an architect on board in short order, we’re going to be going into some very intense meetings over the next few weeks,” Mismash said. The meetings would set out to learn what the county’s administration and sheriff’s office are looking for in a jail.
When the group convenes, they’ll look at what the county needs and wants in a jail. Then they’ll send the architect out to develop a preliminary look for the buildings.
“At that point, the architect will have read and done their job, leading to the establishment of programs for both of these facilities in terms of cost, quality and issues associated with the jail as well as what it should look like in the community,” Mismash said.
Through the Governor’s Energy Office High Performance Building program, the county will also have access to an independent consultant on all of the sustainability and efficiency measures that are going to be incorporated into the projects, like the biomass heating system planned for the Public Works facility.
The mechanical engineering firm that the GEO contracts with “has some specific biomass experience as well as experience with a lot of other sustainability measures,” Birnie said. “I’m going to ask that that firm be assigned to us. So in addition to whatever capabilities the design team we select has—and we do feel that the firm we’ve recommended has the capabilities we need—we’ll also have the benefit of a third-party analysis, energy modeling, feasibility studies, cost benefit analysis and the program will also potentially provide some grant money that will allow us to pursue things like LEED certification.”
Once the design begins to take shape, it will be taken to a public meeting on the jail construction April 21 at the Fred Field Western Heritage Center, from 7-9 p.m.