Commissioners approve $70,000 change order to add dispatch space to sheriff’s office design

Chaffee County commissioners approved a change order of about $70,000 to the architectural services contract for the county sheriff’s office project after staff decided to add a dispatch center to the building program.

A county project manager told the board the dispatch center was not part of the initial footprint but, after discussions with the sheriff’s department about projected operations over the next 15 years, the county “decided to do a scope change and add the dispatch sector to that, which added additional space.” He added, “Architectural services are generally based on space, as far as the cost for those services.”

Commissioners asked whether further design change orders were likely. Staff replied the project team had now included the necessary program elements and did not anticipate more scope increases at the design stage, although construction phase adjustments remain possible.

The board approved the change order in a motion and vote during the consent/contract section of the meeting.

Why it matters: county officials said adding the dispatch center now avoids a future retrofit and aligns the building footprint with projected sheriff’s office operations. Commissioners stressed they do not want repeated multithousand‑dollar change orders and asked staff to ensure the remainder of the design work is locked in.

What was decided: commissioners approved the change order to update architectural services to cover the expanded footprint that includes dispatch. Staff will proceed with the updated design package and said construction‑phase changes could still occur but are not anticipated as part of the current programming.