The Montezuma County commissioners will hold a special meeting Wednesday, July 5, for the purpose of awarding bids for the new county detention center.

County Administrator Tom Weaver said Friday that Weeminuche Construction Authority of Towaoc had the lowest bid of the three vying companies, with an overall bid of $4,556,942.

The Towaoc-based company calculated it would need $2,278,462 for total materials and $2,278,462 for labor and equipment.

The second-lowest bid came from FCI Constructors Inc. of Grand Junction at $4,807,000. The third bid came from Maxam Construction Inc., of Leewood, Kan., at $5,150,000.

On April 24, the county commissioners rejected a set of four previous bids because all came in well over the $5 million budget set by the county.

Rather than negotiating with the lowest bidder, the commission voted to reject all of the proposals and put a less expensive project back out to bid.

"Since then, they have modified the plans (for the detention center)," said Weaver. "They have taken part of the basement away — scaling back the sheriff’s offices and removing some storage space and the shooting range."

Weaver said, however, that the downscaling will not affect the size of the actual jail.

The detention center, which will be located on a vacant lot north of the Justice Building, is being funded by a 0.45-cent county sales tax approved by voters last November.

It is expected that the new detention center, a 110-bed facility, will alleviate the overcrowding that has been a problem at the existing jail for the past several years.

Lt. Kalvin Boggs of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday morning that the jail was holding 99 inmates going into the Fourth of July weekend — 53 inmates over its 46-person capacity.

Weaver said he anticipates that the commissioners will issue a letter to proceed to one of the contractors at the special meeting Wednesday.