The Charleston City Council approved two bid awards during its meeting Tuesday.

The first bid was for the resurfacing of University Drive from Lincoln to Hayes Avenue; Monroe Avenue from Division Street to 4th Street, and North 14th Street from Olive Street to the North City limits.

The bid was given to the lowest bidder, Ne-Co Asphalt from Charleston, who had a bid of $231,531.45. The funds for the project are included in the budget for fiscal year 2021.

The council also approved a bid for tub grinding of landscape waste.

Mayor Brandon Combs said the bid was lower than the original estimate given for the project.

Two bids were received for the project when bid letting was held Jan. 22.

One bid of $35,400 came from R & R Services of Illinois, Inc in Argenta, Illinois and the other came from Agricycle, Inc. of Valley Park, Missouri with a bid of $28,950.

The council approved the bid from R & R Services of Illinois, Inc. As they were the lowest bidder that met the bid specifications for the project.

Combs said the company received the bid in 2020 as well and that he was satisfied with their work.

The council also approved a contract with Variety Attractions, Inc. Red, White and Blue Days.

Red, White and Blue Days is an event held every summer in Charleston in conjunction with the Fourth of July.

The contract is for a performance from TUSK-The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute. The band that will perform will cost the city $7,500.

The band will play on July 3 at 8 p.m.

The show will be free to the public and held at Morton Park.

The council will also vote on an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Taylorville for ambulance billing services.

According to the resolution, “the billing software and procedures utilized by the City of Charleston has sufficient capacity to handle the billing needs of the City of Charleston and the billing needs of the City of Taylorville… the City of Taylorville would benefit from utilization of the City of Charleston utilizing its billing services for the purposes of fire department billing for the City of Taylorville.”

The contract will be in effect from May 1, 2021 to April 30, 2025.

Taylorville will pay $35 per claim and would be billed monthly for claims.

Combs said the local government for Taylorville would be voting on the same contract at their meeting Tuesday night.

The local state of emergency was continued.

The emergency is the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the resolution, the pandemic is of “sufficient severity and magnitude that it may result in or threaten the death or illness of persons to such an extent that extraordinary measures must be taken to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the City of Charleston, and thereby it has warranted an emergency declaration for all states and local government entities and more specifically within the corporate limits of the City of Charleston.”

The council went into an executive session following the regular meeting to review minutes of all closed session meetings.

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-281 or at [email protected].