Fairhope council approves series of contracts, grant applications and budget transfers

The Fairhope City Council on May 27 approved a package of contracts, bid awards, grant-submission authorizations and limited budget transfers covering infrastructure repairs, staffing and two airport grant applications.

Council members authorized amendments to professional services and construction agreements, awarded multiple equipment and construction contracts, approved temporary staffing and medical‑examination contracts for fire personnel, and signed off on letters of support for local nonprofit and broadband grant applicants.

The measures move routine capital repairs and grant-seeking forward. Several items included funding details or contingencies: the council increased a Watershed architectural/engineering contract for a nature‑center rehabilitation; approved a bid of $1,137,855 for 12 natural‑gas bypass pumps with an expected outside funding source to cover 75 percent of the project; and approved airport grant applications that will leave the Fairhope Airport Authority with a small local share of larger federally or state‑funded projects.

“We did get my attention,” Mayor Sullivan said before the council approved Amendment No. 2 to the Watershed contract, explaining that the scope…