Teller Leaders Unveil Bold Plans for $10-Million County Building Hub in Divide

New Facility Draws Comparisons with Sheriff Headquarters; Completion Set for Late 2026

Trevor Phipps

After two decades of saving taxpayer money, the Teller County Commissioners have officially announced plans to start construction of a new county service center, located in Divide.

The announcement comes after the county has pulled aside money from their budget for a number of years in an attempt to nix the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on rent for county offices every year, mostly in Woodland Park.

During last week’s initial kick-off session of the year, the commissioners made it public that the project was underway, at least from the planning stages. In addition, the county released a video with the commissioners further explaining the purpose and need for a new county-owned facility. This has been a dream project under discussion for years.

According to the commissioners, the plan to save money for a new building came about in 1999, as a way to be better stewards of taxpayer money.  The good news is the county now has the ability to pay for the $10 million project without taking out a loan or incurring debt or reducing services.

“We rent quite a few of those office spaces in various locations around the county,” County Commissioner Bob Campbell said at their 2025 inaugural session. “Even though we are a debt-free county as far as long term debt goes, rent is essentially by county standards a long-term debt. That money goes nowhere, it goes to the landlord. That is long term debt that provides us no assets. We spend almost a half a million dollars a year renting locations around the county. That is not good stewardship for county money. We should be putting that money towards assets that benefits and services our taxpayers.”

The county has reportedly paid rent to house a number of county departments since 1997. “The county is projected to save nearly $10 million in rent over the next decade and tens of millions more in the coming decades,” stated the commissioners in a press release.

Over the next couple of weeks, the county plans to submit the design for the 15,000 square-foot service center for proposals. The budget for the new project is capped at $10 million with some of the funds coming from grants from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA).

The commissioners said they hope to break ground as early as this April. The project is expected to take a year to a year and a half to construct and the completion date is slated for late 2026 or early 2027. The service center will be built in the current location of the baseball fields in Divide’s Hayden Park.

The idea of the new service center is to have all county services in one location in the central part of the county. This has been a long-term vision of county leaders for some time, but little planning action has occurred in making this a reality. The new building will be the home to the Departments of Human Services, Public Health & Environment, DMV, Community Development, Veterans Services and potential satellite offices for other county services. Currently, the county rents offices in Woodland Park and Divide to house these departments.

Commissioner Dan Williams, who was appointed as the 2025 board chairman, said that the new building will enable the county to serve its citizens in a more efficient and organized manner. “Often our residents drive in winter conditions from one end of the county only to find they need to go to another county office for additional information,” Williams said. “While the county seat will remain in Cripple Creek, the service center will be focused on high quality modernized customer service in a central ‘one stop shop’ for customers. Our residents are busy folks and after years of careful and conservative fiscal and budgetary oversight the service center will now become a reality.”

Commissioner Erik Stone applauded the project for being a once in a lifetime opportunity to save taxpayer money. “When the federal government made the decision to print and send money to local governments during the pandemic, we knew that we could not be foolish with these funds and if we were strategic in their use, we could leverage county taxpayer funds to get out of rent debt, forever,”  Stone said. “I think the thing that I am most pleased about is that we are able to do this while still crediting property owners with a $2.2 million tax reduction in 2024.”

The visual rendering of the new service center has a striking resemblance to the newly remodeled Teller County Sheriff’s Office. The building’s location gives residents access to the service center from Hwy. 67 South and Hwy. 24.

Although the building will be taking up part of Hayden Park, the park’s playground equipment and basketball courts will be unaffected. According to their press release, the commissioners have already requested that county staff join forces with the Divide Planning Committee and local landowners to develop new outdoor recreation options in Divide.