The Austin City Council is set to take the next step toward remodeling City Hall.

The City Council is slated to approve a bid for the remodeling of City Hall now that Austin Utilities has moved to its Energy Park facility during its 5:30 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 500 Fourth Ave. NE.

Six firms bid on the work, and staff is recommending a $377,000 base bid by Wagner Construction. The council could also discuss two bid alternates.

Since Austin Utilities moved from its former space at City Hall to a new $18 million administrative facility near Todd Park. That frees up space in City Hall to remodel and move other city offices.

Preliminary plans call to move the city clerk and council offices into Austin Utilities’s current space. Then Parks and Rec would move into the city clerk and council offices space.

Construction to remodel the current Austin Utilities space in City Hall could include new permanent walls on the main and second floors, new side cube walls, new carpet on the first floor, new paint and a new conference room on the main floor.

In other areas, the city could repaint most areas, create a new break room in the engineering staff work area, repair exterior stucco finish and replacing the current city clerk door with windows for Parks and Rec. The city would also add backlit signage on the north and south sides of the building.

The city is still working on getting bids for new signage and furniture.

The city previously chose Zenk Read Trygstad and Associates (ZRT) from Albert Lea and Director of Administrator Services Tom Dankert said they proposed the cost of the project not to exceed $48,000.

City Hall was built in 1969 and remodeled it in three phases from 1996 to 1998. Austin Utilities moved into the building in 1999, according to Dankert.

 Council to OK rankings of Hormel Foundation grant requests

The City Council is also slated to discuss final rankings of grant requests from The Hormel Foundation.

Last December, the city accepted $510,000 in grants from The Hormel Foundation.

The requested rankings this year include:

1. Business Encouragement/Enhancement Partnership (BEEP), $60,000.

2. Delivering the Data: Hotspot Data Plans, $28,800

3. Jay C. Hormel Nature Center education programs, $40,347.

4. Playground and poured-in-place surface, $45,000.

5. Targeted Area Redevelopment (TAT), $300,000.

6. Riverside Arena door replacement, $62,500.

7. Fire Prevention and Education, $5,000.

8. Riverside Arena summer ice, $40,000.

9. Jay C. Hormel Nature Center ski groomer, $5,500.

10. Community CPR instruction, $5,700.

The city didn’t include two projects in the rankings that are being requested to go through the city of Austin, including $41,500 for quality of life and $120,800 for Marcusen Park Stadium Lighting.

Those projects will flow through Vision 2020 for projects for a trail connection, pedestrian lighting and 11th Drive Northeast bridge funding.