As reported in this week’s Jackson Hole News and Guide, the Jackson Town Council and the Teton County Board of County Commissioners met on Monday, April 11, to discuss the Parks and Recreation Department’s Rec Center expansion, including the development of the community climbing gym. TCC Board member Marian Meyers represented our organization as part of the discussions.
Pertinent to the climbing gym, it will be necessary for Town and County elected officials to approve contracts by May 5 in order to lock in a Guaranteed Maximum Price.
Per the News & Guide article:
“Initially approved by voters as a $22 million Specific Purpose Excise Tax, or SPET, measure in 2019, the Rec Center addition has spurred difficult discussions among town and county officials for months as cost overruns have ballooned to anywhere from $10 million to about $14 million above the initial projected cost.
“That discussion continued Monday as Town Councilors and County Commissioners weighed a staff-recommended guaranteed maximum price of $32.4 million to GE Johnson, the construction manager at risk. If the full scope of the project… were to be awarded, the cost would rise to the $36 million range.“
Despite the additional costs, Director Ashworth recommended that Town and County elected officials approve the contracts and lock in the Guaranteed Maximum price for the full scope of the project, which includes the climbing gym mezzanine and its 1,500 feet of bouldering.
Reported Meyers, “It was a good meeting and overall it appears that the council and commissioners are in favor of funding the entire $36M.”
As Commissioner Mark Baron noted in the News & Guide article, “construction costs will only continue to rise moving forward so pushing certain projects … down the road will ultimately be more expensive.” For this reason, he urged the town and county boards to move forward and approve the entirety of the project up to the approximately $36 million price tag.
The TCC agrees with Commissioner Barron. We encourage the climbing community to reach out to elected officials and urge them to approve the entirety of the project.
“There is a 30-day window for this proposal to be approved,” Meyers reported. “This deadline date for approval by BCC and Town Council is May 5.”
Please contact the Board of County Commissioners and Town Council. Thank them for their work, and urge them to approve the contracts in their entirety prior to May 5.
Here are the addresses to use:
| Town Council | All | council@jacksonwy.gov |
| Jonathan Schechter | jschechter@jacksonwy.gov | |
| Hailey Morton Levison | hmortonlevinson@jacksonwy.gov | |
| Jim Rooks | jrooks@jacksonwy.gov | |
| Jessica Chambers | jchambers@jacksonwy.gov | |
| Arne Jorgenson | AJorgensen@jacksonwy.gov | |
| County Commission | All | commissioners@tetoncountywy.gov |
| Greg Epstein | gepstein@tetoncountywy.gov | |
| Natalia Macker | nmacker@tetoncountywy.gov | |
| Mark Barron | mbarron@tetoncountywy.gov | |
| Luther Propst | lpropst@tetoncountywy.gov | |
| Mark Newcomb | mnewcomb@tetoncountywy.gov |