Writing last week, while the federal government was still shut down over disagreements concerning a $5 billion wall, I began sharing a conversation that took place on January 22. During that conversation, interim County Administrator Greg Schulte express his belief that a new County jail would cost the taxpayers around $13 million… plus interest on the debt… and consulting architect Bob Johnson urged the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners to set aside the idea of bidding out the project competitively, in favor of a “CM/GC” approach.
As Mr. Johnson explained the CM/GC (“Construction Manager/General Contractor”) arrangement, it sounded like the BOCC would decide on the final price they would be willing to pay, and then pick a firm — before the architectural drawings were complete — and the construction firm would promise to build the jail for the established price.
Without even seeing completed architectural drawings? The whole thing sounded crazy to me, but then a lot of what government does sounds crazy to me.
And a couple of other things sound crazy. Like, for example, this $13 million estimated cost.
In Part Two, I shared a quote from architect Bob Johnson, speaking to the Board of County Commissioners on January 22 about the ‘CM/GC’ project approach:
“We have a fixed budget. We understand that we have a fixed budget. Every month that goes by, we’re probably losing $50,000 to cost escalation. So we don’t want to lose that. We want to expedite the date when we get into the ground. So this process allows us to get a price from a contractor, before we finish all the drawings…”
I can understand that Mr. Johnson feels a sense of urgency about getting this project started. He’s seen one delay after another since he started submitting drawings and price estimates in January 2016.
But… do we really have a ‘fixed budget’?
Back in 2016, architects Bob Johnson and Brad Ash presented a series of conceptual drawings and estimated costs for possible County jails in several locations. The drawings all used a jail design that looked similar to the one below, which I scanned from one of the reports presented to the BOCC by Reilly Johnson Architects and Reynolds Ash + Associates.
This basic ‘cloverleaf’ design, we were told, has been used — successfully — by the architects at Reilly Johnson Architects for jails in various places in Colorado, and around the American West. The cells, shown in pale orange tones, are arranged in a cloverleaf pattern around a central control room, shown in red. From the control room, detention officers have an unobstructed view of every cell.
In January 2016, the estimated cost for a Detention Center on County-owned property — a 19,800 square foot jail — was $7.9 million.
Almost year later, in November 2016, Archuleta County submitted a request for help with their ‘Justice Center’ project, in the form of a grant application to the Underfunded Courthouse Facility Commission. The 12-page grant presentation included this low-resolution drawing, below. We can see the “cloverleaf” jail in the lower right corner.
The requested funding was supposed to help pay for complete “schematic level drawings” estimated at about $400,000.
The presentation claimed that the BOCC had looked (carefully?) at 12 different sites, and had done “exhaustive user group interviews.” Five sites had been evaluated with “detailed space, and site planning.” The application stated that $89,000 in local tax dollars had been invested thus far, plus $60,000 in state tax dollars. (You can download the full presentation here.)
I find it curious that the County was proposing a 32-bed jail in November 2016, and that the cost of the jail was now $5.7 million, rather than $7.9 million. The presentation priced a new Sheriff’s administration building at $5.3 million.
So the total for jail plus new Sheriff’s offices was $11 million. In November 2016.
The next price estimates — also provided by Reilly Johnson Architects, for essentially the same facilities — arrived in February 2017. As we see below, the cost for the jail, with the same basic design, is now $7.6 million instead of $5.7 million… and the Sheriff’s office is now $9.8 million instead of $5.3 million. Add the sitework and architects’ fees and so on, and we have a $24.7 million “Jail Plus Sheriff’s Office.” (No Court facilities were included in this estimate):
When the BOCC finally put a tax increase on the ballot in 2017, the Jail and new Sheriff’s office had become a $20.5 million project, as estimated by Reilly Johnson Architects.
How, exactly, an $11 million project becomes a $24.7 million facility… and then a $20.5 million facility, I am at a loss to explain. The voters presumably couldn’t explain it either, because they voted ‘No” in 2017 and again in 2018.
But as we are now hearing from interim County Administrator Greg Schulte and from architect Bob Johnson, the cost for just a Jail — without any Sheriff’s Office — is now $13 million.
Let’s run through that again. In January 2016, the cost for the Jail was $7.9 million. In November 2016, it was $5.7 million. In January 2017, it was $7.6 million. In December 2018, it was $13 million.
As I’ve mentioned before, architects who create drawings for government projects earn about 8.5 percent of the total project cost. So the architects’ fee, in January 2016 would have been about $670,000. The fee in November 2016 would have been as low as $480,000. In January 2017, the fee would have climbed back up to $650,000.
As of December 2018, the projected architects’ fee would appear to be about $1.1 million, on a $13 million jail.
For a design that would look a lot like this?
…a design used by Reilly Johnson Architects, over and over, in basically the same shape and format, for numerous jails around Colorado and the American West.
There’s a sales technique that every successful used car saleman must learn. How to create a sense of urgency.
From the website of CoCommerical CEO Tara Gentile:
Urgency is about need. If you want people to feel a sense of urgency for buying your product or service, you need to know why they need it now… Urgency is absolutely the key to selling more of what you’re putting out into the world…
Listen. Observe. Know why people need what you’ve made now.
Then tell them you understand. Tell them the stories you know are playing out in their lives right now. Show them the vision you have for them and how your product will take them from the urgency their already feeling into a brand new day.
Create a sense of urgency by respecting your customers’ needs and they’ll respond by buying — now.
And here’s that quote again, from architect Bob Johnson:
We have a fixed budget. We understand that we have a fixed budget. Every month that goes by, we’re probably losing $50,000 to cost escalation. So we don’t want to lose that…