The Charleston City Council approved the waiving of the bidding process to purchase a squad car for the police department and awarded bids for general maintenance materials and seal coat Tuesday.

The council voted to waive the bidding process so a vehicle that meets the department’s needs can be purchased.

Mayor Larry Rennels said the state receives bids for vehicles and secures them for all the municipalities in Illinois.

“This year the winning bid for the state police vehicle was a Chevrolet,” he said. “Unfortunately, all of our equipment that fits inside the squad cars is designed for Ford vehicles. As a result, it would be a big expense to buy all new mounts for the computer, radio and all of that equipment.”

The city received a bid from Pilson Auto Center that was only $135 more than a dealer in Springfield, Rennels said.

“However the cost of sending another vehicle and two officers to Springfield to pick up the new squad car is going to be a lot more than $135,” he said. “It also turns out this vehicle is going to cost about $2,000 less than what the Chevrolet is going to cost.”

The council also awarded a bid for general maintenance street materials and general maintain seal coat.

“Every year we go out for bids on various types of materials for use throughout the year for street maintenance and find the lowest bidder for each item,” Rennels said. “As we need the material throughout the year, we order it from the appropriate vendor.”

Materials listed include hot-mix asphalt and concrete.

A bid of about $123,000 was awarded to NeCo Asphalt Company, 812 Adkins Dr., for general maintenance seal coat.

Rennels said a quadrant of the city streets is seal coated every year.

“This year it’s the southwest quadrant,” he said. “This year we’re going to do some alleys in that area because there are a number of alleys that serve a lot of traffic from the university.”

NeCo Asphalt Company was also awarded a bid of about $302,000 to resurface Reynolds Drive.

The city is currently installing a new sewer main on a portion of Reynolds Drive, Rennels said.

“The whole street was at the point that it needed to be resurfaced as well,” he said.

Reynolds Drive will be resurfaced from Lincoln Avenue to Madison Avenue.

The council also approved the right of way at 1811 Garfield Ave.

The right of way is at the corner of Garfield Avenue and 20th Street.

Rennels said the city has plans to build storm sewers and sidewalks and completed a portion of the project last year.

The next Charleston City Council meeting will be hosted at 6:30 p.m. on July 15 in the council chambers at City Hall.

Amanda Wilkinson can be reached at 581-2812 or akwilkinson@eiu.edu.