A bid was awarded by the Fremont County Board of Commissioners Tuesday for a vestibule extension on the entryway of the Fremont County Judicial Center intended to solve a long standing problem with cold air that blows into the building during winter months.
Mike Madone of Mountain Masonry in Cañon City, who submitted the lowest of four bids at $50,000, was the successful bidder. The bids ranged as high as $216,800. The $50,000 bid matches the exact amount of the grant received several months ago from the Governor’s Energy Office. The vestibule construction will create an entryway that will now have two sets of automatic doors intended to seal off the flow of cold air into the building on cold, windy days.
County Commission Chairman Ed Norden said it’s been a problem ever since the building was constructed in 1999. Norden said an earlier effort to solve the problem with an overhead heater that delivered a curtain of hot air created more problems because when the doors were closed it generated too much heat into the building. Work on the Judicial Center vestibule is expected to begin in the next several weeks. Other than time involved in administering the project there are no other county funds being spent on the project beyond the $50,000 energy grant.
Architectural design of new vestibule to be constructed at the entry of the Fremont County Judicial Center
The Commissioners Tuesday also conducted a routine public hearing for a Community Service Block Grant administered in Fremont County by the Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments. Judy Gilkerson explained that the $35,500 grant is an annual program used to provide emergency assistance to low income residents in the county. She said examples of emergency assistance include rent and mortgage payments, utility bills, food, and transportation. In order to qualify a family must be ranked at 125 percent of the poverty level with a $500 limit made available per household. Gilkerson said in the past year the limited funds aided 290 individuals and 79 families who qualified for emergency assistance. Gilkerson added that in the current economy, the grant funds are being depleted faster than usual.