BROOKINGS – Talk of budgets, entrepreneurs and alcohol licensing will all be part of the goings-on at the upcoming Brookings City Council meeting Tuesday.

Before the actual city council meeting begins, there will be set aside an hour for the city’s second budget workshop, starting at 5 p.m. There, Brookings City Council members will hear more about the proposed $53.2 million 2019 budget, which calls for a decrease to the general government budget and increases for the general fund and special revenue funds, according to city documents.

The regular meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

Area entrepreneurs would do well to catch a presentation geared toward them. There are a variety of support systems and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs in and around Brookings, and Brookings Economic Development Corporation Director of Entrepreneur Support Jennifer Quail will provide an update on those very things when she takes to the microphone.

The city council is recommended to reject bids that came in higher than expected for a project to install sanitary sewer on Western Avenue from about 240 feet north of Martin Boulevard to about 530 feet north of Martin Boulevard, according to city documents.

The total estimated project cost came in at a bit more than $31,000, but the lowest of two bids that the city received was for about $43,000.

Recommended for city council approval is the lowest bid received for gateway landscaping improvements along Highway 14, within the Sixth Street Reconstruction Project area completed by the state Department of Transportation earlier this summer. The low bid, made by Kerry’s Landscaping & Irrigation, was for $87,000.

“The landscaping improvements are related to the center medians and will entail irrigation systems within each of the center medians, tree plantings, turf grass, vegetative plantings, and mulch. The water lines for the irrigation systems were installed during the street construction in the summer of 2017,” according to an attachment to the council agenda. “Additional work will be performed in front of the Welcome to Brookings sign at the corner of Sixth Street and 22nd Avenue as the sidewalk elevation changed during the reconstruction and the landscaping will be regraded to match the new elevation.

“The work for the project will be done within the Sixth Street right-of-way, and lane closures will be implemented during the project to protect the safety of the contractor.”

Also up for consideration is a change order for traffic signals at the intersections of Second Street South and Main Avenue South and Fifth Street South and Medary Avenue South, for an increase of $6,600 to the contract to close out the project. The original contract price was $579,233.68.

This project work was extensive at those intersections, calling for installing new signal poles and control cabinets, improvements to curb and gutter, as well as improved infrastructure there for bikes, among other things.

Specifically, the intersection of Second Street South and Main Avenue South included extended gutter pans for bicycle lanes and curbside bicycle push buttons, while the intersection of Fifth Street South and Medary Avenue South included the future shared-use path connections as recommended in the Bicycle Master Plan.

On the subject of bikes, as part of the consent agenda, the city will declare a slew of abandoned and unclaimed bikes as surplus property to be sold, but worry not – the bikes have been checked against the police department’s records of reported stolen bikes to ensure that stolen bikes won’t be sold.

Also in the consent agenda a pair of resolutions are present calling for the renewal of a pair of five-year wine operating agreements for the Old Sanctuary and Guadalajara’s.

The topic of different alcohol licensing will come again near the end of the meeting with a number of licenses and agreements up for consideration for a couple of businesses owned by Dennis Bielfeldt.

Contact Eric Sandbulte at esandbulte@brookingsregister.com.