School officials ask county for $7 million as construction bids top state award

A school representative told the Colorado town council at a joint meeting that planned construction of a new school cannot start until an existing town water and sewer line is relocated, and that the district is asking county commissioners for about $7 million to cover a remaining funding gap.

The presenter (school official) said the existing water and sewer line runs between the old and new buildings and that the preferred relocation route would run down Trojan Avenue to Rose Street and tie into Irwin Street. "That has been built in to our project," the school official said, adding the relocation will require "a lot of pipe, a lot of fittings, valves" and other work.

Why it matters: project leaders told council members the district had a $59,000,000 state allocation but bids arrived at about $70,000,000. After negotiations with the architect and subcontractors, the presenters said the shortfall had been cut to approximately $7,000,000, which they characterized as roughly 10% of the project. "7 is the magic number," one presenter repeated during the meeting.

The school representative described an early, nonfinal estimate for the water-and-sewer relocation as "a half 1,000,000," a phrase used in the meeting to indicate a very preliminary figure rather than a finalized cost. Officials said they will produce detailed line-item figures after a Monday meeting with the contractor and requested that the county consider both a direct contribution and a waiver of the building permit fee.

Town staff said the municipality's enterprise fund, which covers water and sewer operations, is nearly breaking even and recently recorded a small loss; therefore, staff cautioned the council that direct enterprise-fund support is unlikely. "The enterprise fund actually saw a very small, but a small loss," a staff member said, and suggested that the town could instead help by applying for grants or assisting with paperwork for state or federal infrastructure funds.

Officials identified the contractor that won the bid as JM Cope Construction and the architect as Pinnacle (named individuals: Randy Baker and Frank Williams). Project leaders compared square-foot costs with other recent builds, saying this project works out to roughly $411 per square foot while comparable projects have been as high as $571 per square foot.

Next steps: presenters said they will supply the county with a detailed dollar figure and printouts after meeting with JM Cope on Monday. Staff recommended exploring a DEQ infrastructure grant and working through the High Country Council of Governments and available ARPA funding; they asked for the precise amount needed before beginning formal grant applications.

The meeting ended with a procedural motion to recess and reconvene in closed session for a brief personnel discussion; the transcript records the motion and a second but does not include a recorded vote on the funding request.