The Adams County Parks and Recreation Committee voted to award the construction contract for a new Castle Rock Park maintenance and storage building to the lowest responsive bidder after extended discussion of design, costs and future needs.

Carter, project architect with MSA, told the committee the project received eight competitive bids with an average of $555,000 and the low bid at $469,800, and said those figures are below the architect-engineer estimate and within the county’s planned budget. "We received 8 competitive bids. Average bid price was 555,000. The low bid is, 469,800," Carter said.

The committee spent much of the meeting debating technical design choices. Pat, representing the highway department, noted heavier highway slabs at his department "are 8 inches or greater in thickness" and emphasized differences between dynamic highway loads and the static loads expected in a storage building. Carter and others explained the design decision for a 7-inch slab with an 8-inch compacted base and a thickened edge slab, chosen to satisfy energy and structural code requirements while balancing cost and longevity. Carter said in-floor heating was removed "for value reasons" and that other deletions and configuration changes accounted for roughly $60,000 in value engineering.

Concerns about perceived over-design and excessive cost surfaced from multiple members. One supervisor said the design felt "excessive for the needs of the park," while Carter countered that "it's not exceeding code in any dramatic way" and that the specification was chosen to meet long-term municipal needs. County staff and parks representatives described operational benefits of the larger building, including equipment security and room for maintenance work that can reduce outsourcing costs.

Carter provided an itemized picture of likely components from the low bidder: earthwork about $77,000, concrete $43,000, pole building $112,000 (Clary Buildings), plumbing roughly $17,000, HVAC about $34,000 and electrical near $60,000. Carter explained the higher electrical estimate reflects a planned 400-amp service sized to support future campground expansion and utility hookups.

During a roll-call style poll on awarding the bid, at least four committee members verbally registered yes votes while one member recorded a nay; the motion carried and the committee directed staff to move forward with the low bidder toward contract award.

Next steps include finalizing contract documents and coordinating value-latent options with the selected contractor; staff indicated they will provide additional documentation and a cost-savings breakdown as the project moves into award and implementation stages.