In the next move for the proposed City Center, the Gardendale City Council on Monday awarded a bid for construction of a sewer main at the property on Mt. Olive Road.

Selective Inc. is scheduled to do the work after submitting a bid of $480,000. Sealed bids for the project were publicly opened and read aloud on Thursday.

Construction will start as soon as the contract is finalized, according to Mayor Othell Phillips. He said it could be as early as next week.

Councilman Alvin Currington said the project will be funded from Gardendale’s 1-cent tax increase that went into effect in January.

“That fund has performed as projected,” he said. “It paid for the library expansion and has gotten the city finances in good shape. … We agreed that’s the right place for the money to come from.”

Also on Monday, the council authorized an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to repave and stripe Fieldstown Road from Thompson Street to U.S. Hwy. 31.

The project will be funded by a federal grant, with the city paying 20 percent of the cost.

“It’s a blessing to get this,” said Gardendale Mayor Othell Phillips. In 2009, Jefferson County announced that due to its financial crisis, it would no longer take care of roads that were inside municipalities’ city limits.

ALDOT officials said bids for the project will likely be let in the fall.

In other business, the council:

• authorized an addendum to the contract with Southern Wings LLC for the sale of property at the

proposed City Center. Among other items, the addendum raised the sale price of the property from $75,000 to $122,218 because site size increased from one acre to 1.69 acres. Phillips said the restaurant needed the extra space for parking.

• appointed election officers for the 2012 municipal elections and authorized their compensation. The chief inspector and supervisor is Sharon Wade. Each of the five districts also has an inspector, registration list clerk, poll list clerk and ballot clerk. The chief inspector earns $150 and other workers receive $100. Absentee election officers receive $50.

• formalized a contract with Election Systems & Software Inc. to provide election services for the Aug. 28 elections.

• appointed Cherie Brake to the Library Board.

• voted to cut the grass at two properties that violate the city’s weed control ordinance. Charges will be assessed back to the owners.

• heard from a resident on Mt. Olive Road that said her property is being damaged by water that drains from a city-owned utility pipe onto her property. Phillips said city employees would take a look at the situation this week.