The city of Charleston is a step closer to starting work on a long-discussed project that would forge a physical link from the Charleston Town Center mall to Slack Plaza and Brawley Walkway.
City Council's Finance Committee voted to approve a resolution Monday night that authorizes City Manager David Molgaard to enter into an agreement with Wolf Creek Contracting Co. for a section of the project that would better connect pedestrians from Court Street near the Town Center mall to Laidley Street, near Slack Plaza.
The contract amount for more than $1.7 million includes both the base bid with Wolf Creek as well as three alternates, which would help finance the Brawley Walkway stretch of the project from Capitol to Summers streets.
"We weren't sure how much money we'd have to complete this first phase, and we wanted to do as much as possible," Molgaard said Monday.
A grant from the state Department of Transportation for more than $650,000 and a $163,000 match from the city is helping fund the project.
Molgaard plans to ask the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority for help financing the Brawley Walkway section of the project at the authority's next meeting.
As it currently stands, the bid to be awarded to Wolf Creek includes only enhancements between Court Street and Laidley Street.
"I anticipate we'll have a contract ready and signed probably by the end of the week," Molgaard said. "Everything's already been drawn out and designed; we're ready for the contractor to order supplies."
Last year, the city applied for a $2 million grant from the state Department of Transportation for the Slack Plaza portion of the project, which would create a multi-use green space. Molgaard said they still haven't heard back about whether any grant money will be awarded for that section.
City Council and Finance Committee also voted to approve a purchase of 60 body cameras for the Charleston Police Department, as well as a server and storage. Those purchases of roughly $83,000 come after about a year of research and planning, police Chief Brent Webster said.
"We took a deliberate approach [because] we saw some really inexpensive models that were breaking," Webster said.
The department settled on WatchGuard Video, which is the same brand officers have on their vehicle dash cameras, Webster said.
He noted that the cameras won't be put into use until the department has a policy in place outlining how officers must use them.
Also on Monday, Council voted to:
n Submit a grant to the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety - Homeland Security for $100,000 to upgrade the security systems in City Hall and the City Service Center.
n Authorize the mayor to submit a grant application to the state Division of Justice and Community Services for $7,677 to provide partial salary reimbursement of the Crime Victims Advocate for the city's police department.
n Execute a change order on the Civic Center project's design-build contract with BBL Carlton in the amount of nearly $120,000. That increases the contract price to more than $87 million.
n Authorize the mayor or city manager to renew the city's Risk Management and Property and Casualty Insurance coverage and enter into contracts with Commercial Insurance Services and Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services.
City Council will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the fiscal 2017 budget.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.