The Kimberly City Council authorized the purchase of several items, as the town continues to recover from the April tornado.

The biggest purchase is a new electronic message sign, which will replace the City Hall sign that was heavily damaged in the storm. A bid of $17,177 was approved from Advance Sign.

The new sign will be mounted on the pole that held up the old one; the pole is the only part of the sign that was still usable. The fact that the pole will be re-used is key, as that allows for city insurance to pay for part of the new sign’s cost. The rest will come from the capital improvement fund.

A bid of $3493.34 was accepted from Arrow iron Works to replace hand rails on the community center sidewalk, and another bid for $1,710 was awarded for blown-insulation to be installed in the attic of City Hall.

The council also approved an expenditure of not more than $1,600 for Fire Chief Brian Gober to purchase a new laptop computer, laser printer and backup hard disk unit. The new system will replace one that was in the fire station when it was destroyed by the tornado.

Meanwhile, the process of filing all the recovery paperwork required by government agencies is nearing a completion, Mayor Bob Ellerbrock said.

“We have submitted 90 percent of everything FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] needs for approval,” he said. “We will know something more in the next couple of weeks.”