A consultant hired to oversee the Silverthorne Recreation Center expansion project notified elected officials of work stoppages and delays putting strains on the project schedule.

A report presented to Silverthorne Town Council at an Aug. 13 meeting detailed “limited progress” in July for a project slated to add nearly 25,000 square feet to the recreation center. 

Recreation director Steven Herrman said the construction team is successfully working to make up lost ground from July but wanted to be transparent about delays. 

Aside from the construction delays, the report for council showed the team is anticipating potential impacts to steel-related infrastructure work in August. While construction is slightly behind, construction costs remain where they need to be, the report said. 

Mayor Anne-Marie Sandquist asked if the delays would be an issue for winter construction, which is known to have more weather-related stalls compared to other seasons. 

Herrman said that’s the conversations the construction team is having, noting it remains a concern. He said the current focus is on identifying and implementing scheduling efficiencies, and there’s frequent progress check-ins.

Council member Erin Young wondered if contractors feel the project could still be completed when planned. As of early June, the town planned for construction to wrap up in fall 2026. 

“Because of our tight build seasons and the booming pressure of winter always coming, it always is a bit ambitious, but very doable,” Chris Gaurino said, who is serving as the town’s owner representative on the project with the Artaic Group. 

He said a “couple minor missteps” coupled with discovered conditions of the building pushed things back later than what the construction team wanted to see. He said the team is looking at overtime hours and Saturdays to make up for lost time and assured the council they built protections into the budget and that they shouldn’t see impacts. 

Council member Tim Applegate asked about an aspect of the progress report demonstrating a $48,000 charge in “approved changes.”

Tom Kenyon with the Artaic Group said that number represented the price difference between two different drawing plans, and he said it was a buffer that was accounted for in the guaranteed maximum price in the project. He said, given the talks around tariffs, the construction team set aside a $600,000 contingency. He said, so far, tariffs do not seem to have an impact on the project’s costs. Guarino said the budget is $29 million and that the team is “locked in” on this goal.

Young asked if there was a completion bonus. Guarino said there isn’t, but there is an agreed upon condition where it will cost the construction team $1,500 each day past the planned completion date.

Appelgate said it was important for him and other officials to be kept in the loop on budgetary updates.

Silverthorne Town Council receives periodic updates regarding the project, and town staff members said they will bring issues or changes to them when they come up.