The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday accepted three bids from Dunn Construction Co. totaling $12.7 million for citywide road resurfacing work.

“I wanted first to make sure that the public knew that we were going to pave some more streets — and I’m not even running for office,” Councilor Valerie Abbott said.

Abbott also asked city staff why the three bids weren’t based on quadrants of the city. The mayor’s chief of staff, Cedric Sparks, said the paperwork given to councilors included the work to be done by district. The overall paving was divided into three agreements “to get a better rate of return on our funding that we have for paving,” Sparks said.

Council President Darrell O’Quinn asked whether they should expect more bids or agreements for resurfacing work, since the city budgeted $15 million on such work. City staff said the Capital Projects Department generally leaves money available for joint paving projects with the county and for emergency spending.

Several council members said the city needs to improve in terms of striping and other street marking during paving projects.

“This is a public safety issue,” Abbott said. “People are not stopping at stop signs anymore because there’s no street markings to remind them that there’s a stop sign there. This is dangerous. So it’s not just that I like to see white stripes on nice new black streets.

Councilor Wardine Alexander asked city administrators whether there is a specific timeframe under which officials can perform inspections and make sure repaving projects are done to the proper guidelines.

Denise Bell, director of capital projects, told the council, “This go around, we have actually consulted, outsourced the construction inspection services, because the geographical landscape of the city of Birmingham is too big for our small staff to actually be on site every day that the contract is on site. So we’ve employed services to help us to keep compliance for those areas as well as curbs, so we do plan to see and expect to see a difference this time.”

Councilor J.T. Moore also asked for confirmation that any resurfacing work will take into account requirements from the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“I know people in my district who rely on these ADA accessible ramps to cross the street, so that’s very important for this construction work as we move forward,” Moore said.

Staff with the Capital Projects Department said their team is involved with the design and ADA compliance for these resurfacing projects, and that is a major consideration as the work is being done.

The company approved for the work Tuesday, Dunn Construction, was founded in Virginia in 1878 but moved its corporate headquarters to Birmingham in 1900, when it undertook the construction of a tunnel through Red Mountain, according to the company’s website. Dunn’s more recent projects include repaving of Red Mountain Expressway and Green Springs Highway and paving at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.

In other business, the council approved a $5,000 contract with Urban Impact to organize and promote the annual Taste of Fourth Avenue Jazz Festival, which will take place Aug. 23.

This is a free music and cultural event held every year in the historic Fourth Avenue Business District. Since its debut in 2003, it has grown into a signature community celebration, featuring live jazz performances by nationally renowned and local artists — alongside food vendors, health and wellness programming, children’s activities and local merchandise booths.