Council approved funding and a contract award to prepare Dan Raven Plaza for a planned weekly outdoor market and related improvements.
The council approved $135,353.32 in CIB funding for electrical upgrades and lighting at Dan Raven Plaza and accepted Nies/Neese Engineering’s recommendation to award the contract to Hawk Enterprises as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Staff said the upgrades will provide electricity to vendor locations and improve lighting around the plaza in time for a market scheduled to begin in May.
Separately, the council approved waiving the vendor license fee for the market’s first season at the request of Collective Events Inc., represented in the record by the organizer and the HDC chairman and the organizer’s CEO. Councilmembers described the waiver as a one-year, nonprecedent-setting measure intended to help the market “get off the ground” and said they expect to revisit the policy next year.
Staff will coordinate the electrical work, vendor licensing, and event logistics ahead of the market’s planned start in May.