3.3 MILLION DOLLAR FOOD PANTRY?!? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

                                                       $3.3 MILLION!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0deaAi-q7z5y8co7dNWfJpoWg

https://share.icloud.com/photos/093_nazkQwR2Z52Q7azTLNy9g

IN A NUTSHELL…

I attended the Work Session of the Gilpin County Commissioners Tuesday morning at 8:00. The only agenda item was The Community Annex, and how the Commissioners can chop some plans for their big idea for replacing our Food Pantry. Why? Because the bids are in, and they are grossly OVER (ACTUAL) BUDGET by $1,500,000!!!

Interesting that I have requested the figures for months and been denied. Now I know why. Typical government officials - spending more of the peoples’ money than they have!

HERE IS WHAT WE LEARNED…

THE BID IS NOW $3,300,000.

(Spoken out loud by the Manager, on my video above).

No wonder they had to buckle down and cut costs!

HERE ARE THE NUMBERS…

The initial plan on June 13, 2023 was to replace our Food Pantry. 2 of the 3 Commissioners voted to hire an architectural firm to design a plan, and they appropriated $1.1 MILLION for their plan. They paid $100,000 to the architects, a serious effort. Then it went to $1.3 MILLION.

By February, 2024 it became a 2,500 sq. ft. building for $1.5 MILLION - now a “Community Annex” with a commercial kitchen and county offices!

In fact, last week we learned the Commissioners redirected $500,000 of our Reserve Fund scheduled for fire mitigation to the Community Annex plan in their 2025 budget because their big plans kept increasing in price! But they wouldn’t reveal the actual bids when they received them! Why did they do that? 

Because all they budgeted in 2024 was the $1.3 MILLION, and the bids were coming in at $1.8 MILLION! (That was then? This is now?  What are we to believe!?!) They kept it secret! Now they think they can spend the $1.8 MILLION and be “within the budget”! Right. 

(Hang in there, it gets worse)!

This was a “Work Session” which means the public can attend, but not speak. They don’t record these meetings.

BUT! I took my trusty iPad and recorded the entire meeting. 

I have attached three clips from the meeting in this blog, plus (attempted) the charts of all the suggested changes with the savings attributed to those changes created by Ryan Keenan, our Gilpin County Facilities Director. Some cuts were made, some were not.

Mr. Keenan’s proposals:

(If the charts are not attaching, feel free to write me at thegilpinlight@gmail.com and I will send them directly to you in your email.)

Commissioners selected Site Relocation - duh! $600,000 cut.

They changed to an asphalt shingle roof to cut $20,000.

So far, they are skipping the Air Source Heat Pump System to cut $20,000. They planned for electric heat, but I think they are switching to gas. It wasn’t clear as to what the final decision was Tuesday. ELECTRICITY IS EXPENSIVE! And they talked about A/C!

Exterior Finishes - very complicated discussion, but it looks like since they have chosen a "stick-built" structure, they will have to use the metal siding, after all. (See next page).

Interior Finishes - Commissioners changed to the new idea, cutting $15,000.

Parking Lot - The change was made to drop the paved lot and cut $80,000.

Commercial Kitchen - No, No...don't touch that kitchen! No savings on this one.

Appliances - Not officially decided. Looking into getting used equipment.

Structure Material - Big change here - accepted Ryan's suggestion, cutting $100,000.

Their figures came to $835,000 cut from the $3.3 million plan they have been working to achieve with the architects for nearly two years.  One week before awarding the construction project to the contractors, they are making these huge changes. I wonder how the architects and builders feel about these last-minute changes.  

We are STILL $665,000 OVER BUDGET!

The commissioners refused to eliminate the $70,000 Commercial Kitchen, though! 🤓 They agreed to purchase second-hand furniture for the offices and foyer.

A big change was that they moved the building “nearer” the original modular Food Pantry. Great idea - we’ve been asking that question for nearly two years now. It was a stupid idea to move it down the road, move the utilities, dig out healthy trees, etc. Just plain stupid. Sorry, but if you look at Ryan’s list, that change alone saved 

$600,000!

Most everyone in this County was perfectly happy with replacing the modular unit, pouring new pads outside to hold freezers, and providing an easy access to load the food into the pantry. That would not have cost nearly as much money as this outrageous plan created behind the scenes by those who may benefit personally from this one (?). That's my question.

Think of it - the food pantry is only open 

4 1/2 hours per week (split into two days)!

This is the summary given by Ray Rears at the end of the meeting (video above):

ESTIMATED COST:

$3,300,000

ADJUSTMENTS TO PLAN:

-$835,000

ADJUSTED COST:

$2,465,000

STILL OVER BUDGET BY:

-$665,000 (even after the cuts)

This brought the Manager, Ray Rears to make this statement:

“We’ll try to fine-tune those numbers, so…the ‘not-to-exceed’ number in the contract could be the $1.8 to $2.46 - somewhere in that area.”

How quickly and easily we went from a Food Pantry estimated at $1.1 million to a Community Annex at $2,465,000. Shameful. Just wrong.

These people are living in a different world than we are all living in right now! Just two years ago they asked all of us to raise our taxes FOREVER to gain $1.3 MILLION collectively (annually) for the Rec Center. Remember? We refused! They STILL haven’t opened the Rec Center to it’s 7-day-a-week schedule! They raised rates for the Rec Center! They raised rates at the Dump! They raised fees for contractors building in our county! Everything is more expensive today for all of us! Why do these people think they can abuse our trust and spend like we have it?

THEY SAT THERE TUESDAY MORNING PREPARED TO SPEND UP TO $2.5 MILLION OF YOUR TAX MONEY (including grants you pay for, too) FOR THEIR “COMMUNITY ANNEX”!

Since this was a Work Session, citizens had no right to ask questions or make comments. However, as the meeting was declared closed, Sandy Hollingsworth's husband yelled out his comments. The Board had decided to cut $20,000 by going with an asphalt roof. He didn't like it, because they are planning on putting solar panels up there, and he believes the metal roof would be better. He also made the comment we will be using a lot of electricity in that building. Maybe. But look at the video. Many of us would have liked to have commented, but we followed the rules.  I guess the rules don't apply to everyone equally in Gilpin County. PLUS he was very annoyed that I was videoing everything. This guy, well...I'll be kind and say nothing further. 

Here is the video:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c8qMqUAhMF9CqFNG_DyqRAoQ

The Commissioners are meeting next Tuesday, March 25, to award the bid for the construction of their Community Annex. The public can speak for three minutes at the beginning (9:00) and at the end of that meeting. 

Any opinion? You may want to tell someone!!!!!

You can email the Commissioners at the following addresses:

Jeff Aiken - 

jaiken@gilpincounty.org

Susan Berumen - 

sberumen@gilpincounty.org

Sandy Hollingsworth -   

shollingsworth@gilpincounty.org

Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for caring for this community. Consider acting. ✌️

Donna Okray Parman

Founder, The Gilpin Light

thegilpinlight@gmail.com

Kathleen Balfour shares her opinion…

(Sorry, some people will not see these photos unless you write me. I’ll be happy to share them with you).

I share mine…