Breckenridge Town Council decided Tuesday to postpone the Goose Pasture Tarn Dam repair project. Public Works Director James Phelps recommended that council postpone the project until next year because of concerns about the lack of proposals received by the deadline March 26, which was after the countywide shutdown took place. 

Phelps said town staff mainly were interested in two companies to work as contractors on the project, but only one began requesting information to submit a proposal. Phelps attributed the small pool to the criteria asked of contractors, which included several years of dam-specific experience. 

The town received $10 million in funding for the project from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was provided through the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Phelps said the funding is a three-year grant that ends in 2022 but that the federal and state agencies have said they would provide an extension to the grant depending on the status of the project at the end of the grant cycle.

Phelps said town staff plan to request bids and applications from contractors again in mid-June in order to secure a contract by August. He said that there are risks associated with waiting another season to repair the dam but that improvements recently were made to the dam and the spillway to better prepare for this year’s runoff. He also noted that spring runoff this year isn’t at the same aggressive pace as it was last year. He also said staff would be updating the emergency action plan this year.

Council was all in agreement to postpone the project.