The buildings occupied by Montezuma County’s different governmental departments are scattered and have a number of problems. But fixing the situation won’t be easy, with the county facing a budget shortfall next year of an estimated $2.5 million.
At their workshop on Monday of last week, the county commissioners heard a facilities assessment update from Performance Services, a Colorado firm that offers facility recommendations.
Principal architect Tim Weber said many of the county’s services are decentralized and some are in buildings that were built before the Americans with Disabilities Act, which creates challenges for ensuring equal access for the entire community.
Weber also noted that the District Attorney’s office is downtown rather than in the combined courts facility on Park Street.
“If you have the opportunity to think about adding a small addition to the combined courts, there could be increased efficiency and more security,” Weber said, noting that the function of the DA’s office is aligned with the courts.
“This would free up a little space within your existing buildings and allow for a little growth that Social Services might benefit from,” he said.
Some of the biggest concerns involved the historic county courthouse in downtown Cortez, where the commissioners meet. It was constructed in 1937 and later added onto.
When that courthouse was built, Weber said, “there was a certain level of respect for local government. Circulation paths were shared. You knew your judges, plaintiffs, defendants, and they all went up and down same staircase.
“It worked back then, but times have changed between then and now.”
Weber said the best practice now is to separate the public and private areas of the building.
Commissioner Kent Lindsay pointed out that, to get to the commission room, people either have to enter the building from the back, use an elevator, and navigate some halls, or come in from the front and climb a stairway.
Weber said good objectives would be consolidating county services where practical, improving public access in general, ensuring safe parking, and making paths from parking lots to facilities as safe as possible.
Business development manager Kate Sawyer said the Performance Services people are still working on a cost analysis for different options to help the situation.
“You all have to do what’s best for the county,” she said. “There are all kinds of reasons that building a new ground-up facility would make sense, but it might not make any sense financially.”
The commissioners said the county can’t afford to do much now.
Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer said the county’s financial situation doesn’t look good for next year and probably won’t improve any time soon.
“Our budget at this time is about $2.5 million more than what we’re going to take in, so as far as new facilities go, it doesn’t look very promising,” Koppenhafer said.
