The Albert Lea City Council on Monday approved more than $230,000 in reductions to the contract for the Broadway reconstruction and streetscape project.

As part of a change order with contractor BCM Construction Inc. of Faribault, the reductions included changes in mobilization costs and some temporary elimination of some amenities, such as benches and trash cans, among others.

Public Works Director Steven Jahnke said the changes will not significantly impact the project. A portion of reductions might be made up through a donation program that some residents have expressed an interest in.

City Manager Chad Adams said the city is seeking the changes after the low bid for the project came in $495,000 over the engineer’s $4.1 million estimate.

The project includes the replacement of the street, sidewalk and underground utilities on Broadway from Fountain Street to Main Street. Decorative lighting, crosswalks, kiosks and trees will be added, along with basic pedestrian plazas at William and Water streets.

Fountain Lake Park at the north end of Broadway will also under go a reconstruction with the addition of a grand staircase leading from Fountain Street to a sidewalk promenade in the park, a handicapped accessible sidewalk and a new boat dock on the lake.

The project came out of a need to replace aging infrastructure.

At its April 22 meeting, the council voted to eliminate the enhancements to the pedestrian plazas at William and Water streets for about $86,000, but that still put the project more than $400,000 over budget.

With the reductions approved Monday, the project is less than $200,000 over budget.

The adjustments were as follows:

• A $15,000 decrease in mobilization costs, the costs of setting up and tearing down equipment for each phase of the project.

• An $18,625 reduction to modify the construction method for the installation of crosswalk pavers.

• A $16,521 reduction for reducing the size of the electrical conduits on Broadway.

• A $36,400 reduction in the interior water service connection costs because the contractor has a better understanding of the contract expectations.

• A $3,500 reduction to reduce the interior fire service connection costs.

• A $28,450 reduction to install regular stop sign posts instead of decorative stop sign posts.

• A $29,915 reduction to eliminate tree guards on all tree grates.

• A $16,800 reduction to reduce the number of benches from 25 to 13.

• A $5,900 reduction to eliminate extra benches bid with the project to be installed by city staff outside of the project.

• An $11,800 reduction to eliminate some extra trash cans.

• An $11,000 reduction to eliminate one kiosk.

• A $5,000 reduction for the city staff to salvage and re-install some of the existing items in Fountain Lake Park.

• A $23,760 reduction for work at Fountain Lake Park.

• A $1,785 reduction to reduce the electrical conduit at the park.

• A $17,619 reduction to eliminate sanitary sewer and water services for future restrooms at Fountain Lake Park.

Adams said the city instead hopes to install public restrooms near the North Broadway parking lot in a future year.

• A $10,000 addition to add four storm water tree filter boxes on Broadway.

Adams said if some of the items that were eliminated are not made up for through donation program, they will be added on to the city’s capital improvement plan for another year.

The changes passed with little discussion from the council.

Councilors John Schulte V and George Marin were not in attendance at the meeting.

Work began last week on the project on the north end of Broadway between Fountain and Water streets.