The Board of Aldermen voted to award a contractor for the 2025 Budwell Park Playground Project after a motion to limit the playground footprint and cap the cost was approved by voice vote.

The motion, made by Alderman Hills and seconded by Alderman Wissbrock, proposed awarding the contract and ‘‘lower[ing] the footprint somewhat,’’ with the design to be chosen later and ‘‘not to exceed our budget amount,’’ according to Hills. A staff member reminded the board that ‘‘this will not be a blanket approval, that this still will have to be approved by ordinance as it will be a contract. I’ll be the amount not to exceed $500,000.’’

Board members who spoke during the discussion cited different reasons for supporting the contractor. Alderman Mazerang said he was ‘‘most impressed by their . . . I think it gives us the most options to move forward, in the future.’’ Alderman Brightshaft said he liked that the company was ‘‘a one-stop company that will be dealing with one person or two people in the same company for all aspects of the job.’’ The motion passed on an affirmative voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.

Under the board’s direction, staff will work with the contractor referenced at the meeting (referred to in the transcript alternately as ‘‘Vernon Jones’’ and ‘‘Burns and Jones’’) to develop a smaller-footprint concept that remains within the budget cap, and return that concept to the board for final approval. The staff member said the design would either go to Parks and Recreation for recommendation or return directly to the board; the board instructed staff to ‘‘come back to the board.’’

Next steps noted in the meeting: staff will develop a final concept with the contractor and present it to the board, and the contract must be approved by ordinance before work can proceed.