BAY MINETTE, Ala. — During Tuesday’s meeting of the Bay Minette City Council, city leaders accepted two bids to equip the Bay Minette Fire Department.

At the meeting, which was held on Tuesday instead of Monday because of the Independence Day holiday, the council voted unanimously to award a $232,875 bid to Sunbelt Fire for 45 self-contained breathing apparatuses.

Council members also awarded a $17,000 bid to Heritage Fire Equipment to provide the fire department with two thermal-imaging cameras.

As previously reported, the fire department received $242,573 in grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and $12,767 from the city of Bay Minette to fund the acquisitions.

The apparatuses cost $5,500 each and the fire department will purchase 45, 30 of which will be used on fire trucks and 15 for hazardous-material trailers.

Also Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to accept a resolution for a contract between the city and South Alabama Regional Planning to aid in evaluation and redistricting Bay Minette’s five single-member districts. Bay Minette Mayor Jamie Tillery explained that the contract amount will not exceed $12,000 and should take about three weeks.

Bay Minette City Attorney Scott Lewis said during the Bay Minette City Council Work Session before the meeting that South Alabama Regional Planning could “plug in census data and the demographic stand point. That’s the first phase. It may be that no redistricting is necessary.

“I wouldn’t recommend doing it-in house," he said of the  process of redistricting and assessing growth. “I don’t foresee it being a substantial overhaul. I think we’re looking at tweaks.”

Also Tuesday, Volkert and Associates Civil Engineer John Cameron updated those present at the council meeting on phase three of the community-sidewalk project. He presented a map that showed sidewalk construction slated for Fifth Street to Hoyle Avenue to East 12th Street and for Dobson Avenue to Red Hill Road.

The project should include about 2 miles of sidewalk, Cameron explained, and will place walkways beside Bay Minette Elementary, Intermediate and Middle schools as well as the Bay Minette City Pool area.

Cameron explained that the project will be funded by a transportation-enhancement grant the city received from the Alabama Department of Transportation in 2009.

“We have open bids and will probably award a bid at the next council meeting,” he said.

The current low bid is for $242,500 and the grant allows $290,000, Cameron said. The city will match 20 percent of the bid amount.

Phases one and two of the project included sidewalks on 14th Street to McMillan Avenue to Fourth Street, Dobson Avenue to Phillips Street and West Seventh Avenue and from D’Olive Street to Hall Avenue and East Second Street through West 12th Street.

In additional business, the council unanimously approved travel requests and training expenses for:

r Bay Minette Police Chief Michael Rowland and Capt. Clarence Crook to attend to the 24th annual, statewide Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee conference in Orange Beach Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at a cost of $300.

r Trey Dickson to attend the Alabama Municipal Court Clerks and Magistrates Association conference Sept. 15-17 in Orange Beach at a cost of $859.95.

r Bay Minette City Clerk Rita Findley to attend certification training at the Institute of Municipal Clerks and Administrators Aug. 10-12 in Tuscaloosa at a cost of $807.41.