At a work session, the Lake County Board of County Commissioners and the project design team reviewed schematic designs for a renovation of the Lake County Courthouse, focusing on security upgrades for the sheriff and courts, mechanical-system changes and funding strategies.

The schematic design includes an about 825-square-foot addition on the building's north side to accommodate a Sally Port and new elevator vestibule, relocation of the jail from the main to the lower level, a secure parking area, and a new evidence area. Lauren Davis, project architect with Reynolds Ash, said, "this footprint is about 825 square feet of an actual addition that we're putting on that north side," and described secure entries, intake and processing areas and a warming kitchen in the proposed jail layout.

Why it matters: the renovation touches building systems, secure operations for the sheriff and courts, and election-related spaces managed by the clerk and recorder. Several items require separate approvals and outside funding: Leadville land-use review and Historic Preservation Board review for a certificate of appropriateness; large mechanical and site work that could require additional capital; and grant applications the county is pursuing to fund elements not covered by existing county funding.

Most important details

- Jail, evidence and secure parking: The plan moves the sheriff's secure functions to the lower level and adds a Sally Port, secure vestibules and a new secure parking lot. The design team said most access into sheriff-controlled spaces will require credentials. The evidence area is tracked as an alternate and will include dedicated ventilation and pass-through cabinetry for secure evidence handling.

- Addition and circulation: The addition houses the Sally Port and elevator. The design preserves an existing stair identified in the code analysis and works around it rather than relocating it for structural, cost and code reasons.

- Courtroom and public circulation: The third-floor courtroom layout would be reconfigured to improve security and circulation for in-custody defendants, with a secure corridor behind the judge's bench and a reworked jury and deliberation layout. The design team is proposing a stacked unisex restroom to serve every floor.

- Mechanical systems and generator: Amber Hames, electrical engineer with SGM, said the addition will cover the existing boiler air intake and gas service entry and that the existing indoor generator "does not meet" current code in its present location. She recommended planning for an external generator pad and a fenced utility yard so a future replacement generator could be added as an ad alternate or in a later phase. Brian Carpenter, mechanical engineer with SGM, described the preferred mechanical approach: "continue to use the steam boiler that's there" for existing spaces while converting new and renovated areas to hydronic heating served by a smaller, more efficient boiler and adding targeted ventilation systems (energy-recovery ventilators and makeup-air units) for high-demand spaces such as jail cells and evidence processing.

- Air quality and radon: Team members flagged ventilation upgrades and radon mitigation as issues to address. The mechanical team said new required ventilation will increase conditioned-air loads and that those new loads are a factor in generator sizing and backup-power planning.

- Elections and records storage: The plan would repurpose the existing ballot-counting room and nearby storage for community planning and development if off-site storage for records can be secured. The transcript indicates the clerk and recorder (Tracy) and staff will need a plan for ballot-room continuity during elections.

- Funding and permitting constraints: Project staff said county funding labeled as "COP funding" only covers a limited part of the drawings (the areas the team identified as blue in the plan set). Other items — the Sally Port, generator replacement and some courtroom work — are not funded under that allocation and would need additional grants or phasing. The team is pursuing multiple grant avenues: a pending USDA request under review, an underfunded courts grant with a November 13 presentation in the plan, and the possibility of federal emergency-management grants for a new generator.

Process, schedule and next steps

The team reported the project is in schematic design and a working 3-D model and as-built set are being refined. Survey and geotechnical reports are in process; the geotech contract was noted as pending signature. Design deliverables include a schematic design (SD) package the design team scheduled to issue on the project calendar and graphics for grant exhibits. The team also plans further user-group meetings with the courts, sheriff's office, clerk and recorder, building officials and utility providers, and coordination meetings between architects, MEP engineers and contractors. The group discussed submitting the project to Leadville planning and the Historic Preservation Board (a minor site-plan review and a certificate of appropriateness will be required).

What was not decided

No formal votes or binding decisions were recorded in the work session. Several items — including where to place or whether to buy a new generator, whether to fund the Sally Port in this contract or phase it later, and exact locations for relocated utilities — were left for further design, pricing and funding decisions.

Quotes and attributions in this article come from participants listed in the meeting transcript and from project-design staff: Lauren Davis, Reynolds Ash (project architect); Brian Carpenter, SGM (mechanical engineer); Amber Hames, SGM (electrical engineer); Michael Irwin, Lake County Public Works (comments about available grant experience); Katie Joxler and Colleen with DPM (owner's representatives); Ryan Young and Mike Votter with FCI (contractor team); Stuart Clark (county staff); Tracy (clerk and recorder); Sheriff Speckman (sheriff). The article does not attribute paraphrased or summarized procedural points to specific speakers when the transcript did not link the remark to a single named speaker.

Next steps for the county include finalizing survey and soils work, continuing coordination with utilities and Xcel/Excel (utility) on transformer and gas-meter relocations, refining SD deliverables for contractor cost estimates, and preparing grant exhibits and the presentation materials the county will use in upcoming funding requests. The design team recommended designing electrical and mechanical infrastructure now to make it easier to add a properly sized generator as an ad alternate to the current project if funding later becomes available.