PUEBLO, Colo. — Pueblo County commissioners approved a resolution on Aug. 7 to hire RJ Gleason Construction for a South Berm Stabilization Project at the Pueblo County Detention Center, a project county staff described as a long-term fix for severe erosion that has repeatedly filled the bottom swale carrying runoff from the building's west and south sides.

County staff presented the project as a shift from the original plan of seeding natural vegetation on a 16%–18% slope to installing a plastic geocell landscape system, which staff said would reduce or eliminate recurring maintenance caused by erosion. "The slope out there is approximately 16 to 18% and that was not going to be a safe way to maintain that sloped surface," said Dave Zubin, a county staff member who presented the proposal. He said the project team consulted the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Pueblo Board of Water Works while developing the plan.

Zubin described the product to commissioners as a high-density polyethylene geocell manufactured in Minnesota. "This is probably a 50 or 100 year plastic product that we place on the ground," he said, and added that the cells would be filled with fractured aggregate. He said the plan calls for a larger, 1.5-inch fractured rock to reduce movement and that the project would require specialty equipment — including a long conveyor boom to place rock — and an estimated "approximately 3,500 tons" of rock.

County staff told commissioners the geocell and fabric components account for a significant portion of the bid; Zubin said the fabric itself was "somewhere to around a hundred and 220000 dollars," and there would be an additional estimated cost for rock that staff had not finalized with the vendor. He also said the county expects the project cost to be "under 500" (units not specified in the meeting transcript). Funding for the work, Zubin said, would come from the project’s discretionary contingency fund, which he described as "of 6.75" (units not specified in the transcript).

Commissioners asked about effectiveness and maintenance. Zubin said the geocell should substantially reduce annual or multiple-times-per-year maintenance of the swale and that only occasional re-raking of rock might be needed: "We feel very confident this is a really good long term solution that will, albeit eliminate the yearly maintenance or twice or 3 times yearly maintenance on that swale."

The board moved, seconded and voted to approve the agreement with RJ Gleason Construction. The motion passed by voice vote: "Aye. Aye. Aye." County staff said they will continue to monitor costs and finalize the rock pricing with the vendor as work proceeds.

Why it matters: County staff framed the project as reducing recurring maintenance and preventing storm-driven damage to drainage infrastructure from the detention center’s berm. The presentation also contrasted the water demand and long timeline of an irrigated grass approach with a rock/ geocell design.

Next steps: Staff will finalize vendor pricing for aggregate and proceed with contract administration under the approved agreement; commissioners were told staff will monitor contingency usage and report on expenses as appropriate.