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New Rifle Administration Building to house centralized county staff

Clerk and Recorder's Office closes May 9-13; reopens May 16

PRESS RELEASE
May 5, 2016

rifle admin building opening

GARFIELD COUNTY, CO – Garfield County staff is gearing up for moving into a brand new Rifle Administration Building during the month of May. The building, located just west of, and sharing a parking lot with, the Garfield County Health and Human Services Building, is set to open for the public by mid-May, and will present professional work space for nearly a dozen departments and offices. The address of the new building is 195 West 14th Street, Building D, Rifle, CO, 81650.

The building’s construction began in August of 2015, and its swift ten month completion comes in at the budgeted amount of $4.8 million. Management of the project was overseen and directed by county staff, specifically those in Public Works and Engineering. The primary contractor for the building was CMC Group, Inc.

“We feel this facility will provide a centralized location for the community to receive county services and fulfill the needs of staff for providing these services,” said Garfield County Commissioner Mike Samson. “I expect this will be a great blessing to all of the citizens of Garfield County, but especially those in the west end, who will not have to travel to Glenwood Springs to do county business.” The county is additionally expanding nearby parking lots adjacent to the new building for residents to park in while accessing county services.

The Rifle Administration Building will bring together a large number of staff members who have previously occupied the county’s 144 East 3rd Street in Rifle location (the Henry Building) and the Rifle Garfield County Airport. Specifically, County Commissioner Samson, staff from the Clerk and Recorder’s Rifle location, and some Communications, Community Development, Department of Human Services, Engineering, Facilities, Finance, Information Technology, Oil & Gas, Public Lands Access, and Vegetation Management employees will move into the new building.

The move will be conducted in stages. The first will be the Clerk and Recorder’s Office staff, which will occupy the first floor of the new building. Because of the complexity of relocation, the Clerk and Recorder’s Rifle location will close May 9-13. All services will be available either online (such as license plate renewals) or in the Glenwood Springs Clerk and Recorder’s Office on the second floor of the Garfield County Courthouse at 109 8th Street, Suite 200, during the closure. The Rifle Clerk and Recorder’s Office is expected to reopen in the new location May 16.

Construction fencing will remain around the building until May 16 and public access will be restricted, as final preparations are completed on the grounds, including concrete, asphalt and landscaping.

Starting on May 16, the Colorado Child Welfare Training Center is expected to move in, followed by Human Services employees the next week, and Community Development, Public Works, Finance and Communications staff the last week of May. Due to the size of the relocation move, and factors such as final construction needs or weather delays that could affect the transfer of so many employees, residents are asked to call and confirm with departments where the best location to visit for conducting county business will be on any given date during May. The second and third floors of the building will not open to the public until after Memorial Day.

Most county offices and departments have individual direct line phone numbers and email contact forms, shown at the bottom of the sections of the garfield-county.com website for each division. Additionally, a full listing of phone numbers is available at garfield-county.com/administration/phone.aspx, and citizens can reach a live operator by calling 970-945-1377.

The county will negotiate further plans for use of the Henry Building in coming weeks, and will formalize plans for its future in public meetings, streamed live at garfield-county.com/board-commissioners/meetings.

Space vacated at the Rifle Garfield County Airport will be further utilized for the Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting. This state agency has the mission of protecting the citizens, land, and resources in Colorado, the Center of Excellence will research, test, and evaluate existing and new technologies that support sustainable, effective, and efficient aerial firefighting techniques. The state identified Rifle Garfield County Airport as a key location, because of its open air space and available offices located near the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit.