ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- The Robertsdale City Council set the wheels in motion at its meeting Monday night to put a traffic light at the intersection of Highway 59 and County Road 48, connecting the main thoroughfare through the city with the Baldwin Beach Express.

The City Council voted Monday to contract with Gonzales-Strength & Associates, a Tuscaloosa-based firm, to create and implement a proposal for the project with the Alabama Department of Transportation.

James Brown with Gonzales-Strength presented a proposal to the Council at its meeting Monday night, including a proposed schedule for the project.

According to Brown, the company plans to begin surveying for the project toward the end of February and will submit a plan for review to the DOT by the end of March.

Plans are to submit a final plan to let the project by July 1 with the project set to go out for bids Aug. 30. If everything falls into place, Brown said, the project should be completed by January 2014.

The company also plans to apply for a grant through the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP) to fund the project.

It was announced during Monday’s Council meeting that the city has received a $1.2 million ATRIP grant to fund a similar project, which would connect Highway 59 to the Baldwin Beach Express via Wilters Street.

“I think if we do this right, this could serve as a model for how we do these intersections in the future,” said Council member Joe Kitchens. “I am really looking forward to working with this company on this project and hope it will lead to future projects.”

The Council voted unanimously with all members present to contract with Gonzales-Strength at a total cost of $56,000, including $40,000 for engineering costs and $16,000 for surveying fees.

In other business Monday, the Council received a positive audit report from Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore during Monday night’s meeting.

Dennis Sherrin with Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore addressed the Council during its work session on Monday, stating that the city was in good financial shape and employed sound accounting practices.

The city is currently operating with a budget surplus of around $500,000, Sherrin said. In response to a question by Council member Paul Hollingsworth, Sherrin stated that the city was in sound enough financial shape that there should be no problems if the city needed to apply for a bond issue to pay for a major project, such as the County Road 48 intersection project.

The Council voted unanimously to accept the annual financial audit report.

In other business Monday the council:

• Approved a request from Gulf Coast Newspapers to purchase advertising in the Baldwin Marketplace at a cost of $325.

• Approved an advertising request for Special Olympics on behalf of Robertsdale Elementary School.

• Announced that the city will be presenting a proclamation at 9 a.m. Friday to the Central Baldwin Middle School girls basketball team, who recently won the County Championship.

• Announced that Mayor Charles Murphy and Council members will be a attending the Alabama League of Municipalities CMO Sessions Feb. 19 in Montgomery.

• Received a proposal from Council members Sue Cooper and Ruthie Campbell to purchase LED Christmas lights for the city. No action was taken on the matter at Monday’s meeting.