Gunnison County jail and public works construction under way and on budget

Projects boost local economy

County commissioners and staff got their boots muddy last week, donning hard hats and safety glasses to tour the new public works facility and jail under construction in Gunnison County. What they found? Both facilities are well under way, with interior framework begun. And both facilities are on track with the budget and the schedule, boosting the local economy and bringing the county up to the cutting edge of jail management.

With direct construction cost estimated at $12,302,135 for both projects combined, county manager Matthew Birnie reports budgets are “almost exactly where the estimates showed. Obviously as contractors get on with the project there are some deducts from costs and some additions. But we’re well within allowances for contingencies like that. We’re increasingly confident that we’ll stay within those contingencies in the contract, so we can use the contingencies in our budget to finish the second floor of the jail.”
Initial planning allowed for the second floor of the jail to be built, but left as shell space until funding could be identified to complete the Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Corrections that will be housed there. But Birnie expects to be able to give second floor completion the go-ahead in the next couple of weeks.
Leaving the door open to future efficiencies is the sort of forethought and careful management that has come to characterize the design and construction of the jail and the public works facility. Another example: at the public works facility, space has been set aside for a sign shop that isn’t in the budget right now, but could eventually save the county half of the money it spends on signs.
“The county has been operating in an environment of limited functionality for so long,” Birnie said. “We wanted to make sure that whatever we built would be useful for all the areas we needed, even [accommodating] functions we don’t do currently. There’s a master plan for the site that’s much more extensive than what we’ve built—heated storage, cold storage, etc. We didn’t want to design ourselves into a corner.”
In addition to smart planning, the county also insisted that general contractor GE Johnson engage the local contracting community. The company has risen to the challenge.
“We used wood frame construction [in the administrative building] because of the increased potential to hire locally,” said project engineer Allan Arnason during the tour of the public works facility.
And GE Johnson estimates that over $3 million has been contributed to the local economy in work contracts alone, representing more than 30 local firms and 27 percent of direct construction costs. That doesn’t include contracts with local firms like Buckhorn Geotech, not to exceed $51,600, for onsite inspections or local surveyors. Nor does it reflect the recirculation of those dollars into the local economy, which according to Birnie, “various models assume three to five times recirculation leverage for new money in local economies.”
But where the county’s foresight and planning become most apparent is at the grounds for the new jail, located on the 500 block of Bidwell, near the grounds for Gunnison’s Cattlemen’s Days. The new facility will radically change the day-to-day operations of the county jail.
“The current jail is fraught with non-code issues,” county commissioner Hap Channell explained as he stepped over an extension cord on the job site. People don’t like to think about the need for a county jail, but investing in the new facility will allow the county to separate men from women, juveniles from adults, and misdemeanors from felons. There will also be a multi-purpose room for AA meetings and religious services. “Right now, there’s no space to do any of that. We can’t even separate juveniles from adults,” Channell said.
The new building will bring the total capacity of the jail to 47 prisoners with single-bed occupancy. That’s well above the current annual average—about 23 to 24 prisoners at any given time, according to former sheriff Rick Murdie. That number spikes seasonally, around holidays and when Western State College starts its semester, and peaked around 47. But the increased capacity is not necessarily in anticipation of future spikes in crime; it’s intended to serve the multiple functions of a county jail.
“There’s a wide range of what we need to be able to accommodate—it’s not like a prison,” Birnie explained.
According to Birnie, there’s a big difference between county jails and federal prisons, which house convicted felons. The county often houses individuals who aren’t necessarily guilty; they might be waiting for trial or, if convicted, serving a shorter sentence for a lesser crime. The new facility will accommodate that wide variety of inmates without mixing more serious offenders with the rest of population. And in fact, many people held in the current county jail will never see the inside of the new jail facility.
According to Murdie, “We’re seeing more and more mental health and alcohol issues.” At the current jail, the only way to address these issues is by booking the individuals into jail. The new facility will have holding rooms outside of the jail, allowing for more efficient management of such cases. And inside the jail, advances in technology and design will also increase efficiency and safety.
The facility has been designed in pods, or wings, that surround a central guard station. Each pod holds a designated group, such as work release, men’s misdemeanors, or women’s misdemeanors. Guards will be able to view each wing through full-height glass and electronically manage every door and camera in every cell. In addition, video technology will bring the county up to speed with statewide practices, reducing the need to transfer prisoners to the Montrose courthouse for hearings or the hospital for mental health assessments.
Another advantage of the new building? According to project superintendent Don Tornquist, a mix of concrete, wainscoting, stucco and windows on the exterior of the building will keep it from looking like a jail.
“It will look more like an office building,” he said.
Double-wall construction allows for a gap between the exterior wall of the building and the exterior wall of the jail cells so that windows will let in natural light without creating a direct view into or out of the jail.
Both projects are on track to be completed on time, with major construction completed for the public works facility in June and move-in scheduled for August, and major construction for the jail completed by November, with move-in scheduled for the end of the year.