The Lampasas City Council on Monday voted 7- 0 to spend as much as $50,000 to replace portions of the Pecan Street sidewalk near the Lampasas County Office Building. The council also voted to waive the city's bidding requirement for the project.

The section of sidewalk is above a drainage area that runs from Fourth Street to Third Street. Engineer Jim Glaser, whom city staff contacted about the sidewalk, said exposed and damaged steel need to be repaired to provide support for Pecan Street buildings and the drainage area.

In other business, the council authorized City Manager Michael Stoldt to prepare a notice of intent to accept an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant of $35,000. The funds, a portion of the $45 million given to the State Energy Conservation Office as part of the federal "stimulus" bill, likely will be used to improve the efficiency of lights at the Lampasas Public Library and the Senior Citizens Center on Live Oak Street.

In another library-related matter, the City Council voted 7-0 to approve the second reading of an ordinance to increase the fine for replacement library cards from $1 to $3. During the first reading, the council voted to raise the fine for each overdue children's book from 10 cents per day to 25 cents a day.

The second reading however, contained no increase in children's book fines, so the fee will remain 10 cents per day for each overdue book.

Councilman John Cole, who voted at the last council meeting to increase both replacement card fines and overdue children's book fees, asked the council to reconsider the matter. Adopting a 25-centper day fine for late books would have generated only minimal extra revenue for the library, Cole said. The councilman added that he didn't want to discourage children from checking out books.

During her report to the City Council, Mayor Judy Hetherly said the Lampasas County Higher Education Center leadership group is creating a non-profit foundation to support the new highereducation facility. In addition, an assessment will be posted soon on the city's Web site, www.cityoflampasas.com, to determine Lampasans' level of interest in post-secondary education.

Also at the recent meeting, the council:

• voted unanimously to close Pecan Street in the downtown area, along with Third Street at Elm Street, during a Halloween event, "Squared Silly," set to begin at 5 p.m. Saturday.

• decided to cast its 274 votes in the Lampasas Central Appraisal District Board of Directors election for Mike Kriegel.

• voted to award a bid of $6.45 per ton to Clayton Aggregates Inc. of Copperas Cove for flexible crushed limestone road base delivered to Lampasas. Although the amount of materials to be purchased has not been determined, city staff estimate they will buy about 3,800 tons -- or approximately $25,000 of road base.

• awarded a bid to Murphy Oil USA Inc. for fleet fuel purchases of gasoline and diesel for city vehicles. Because Murphy will not charge the city for freight, the company's bid was about 12 cents per gallon lower than the next bid for gasoline and about 14 cents per gallon less for diesel.

• accepted a Texas Division of Emergency Management grant of $20,000, to be spent on hazardous material equipment for the Lampasas Fire Department. LFD has about $1 million in hazardous material equipment and operates one of only three haz-mat teams in Central Texas, Fire Chief Terry Lindsey said.

• voted to participate in the 2010 Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Division's Routine Airport Maintenance Program. RAMP grants pay for 50 percent of eligible maintenance work per fiscal year or $50,000, whichever is less.

• voted to close the Lampasas Public Library on Jan. 2, 2010.