The City of Bremerton was set to take steps forward on a slate of improvement projects around town this week.

Three of those include hiring a firm to handle a sidewalk improvement project for Armin Jahr Elementary School, the hiring of a construction manager for intersection improvements to Warren Street and 11th Avenue and the hiring of a contractor for the Evergreen Parks and Green Streets Project.

The bids for the Evergreen Park project were unsealed May 14. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $956,086 and three bids were received. South Bay Excavating was the lowest responsive, responsible bidder with a bid of $1,041,300.75. Construction of the project is funded with $1.1 million in grants and $425,000 in donated matching funds.

When it comes to the sidewalk improvements near Armin Jahr, the city decided to approach the work in two phases in order to secure adequate Safe Routes to School grant funding. The first phase will see sidewalk connections from Sheridan Road to the school along the west side of McClain Avenue and the south side of E. 31st Street. The total estimated cost is $250,000 with 86.5 percent of that being grant funded and 13.5 percent covered with city dollars. Sealed bids were set to be opened June 14.

Lastly, the city will be advertising and awarding the 11th Street and Warren Avenue project later this summer, but does not have sufficient staff to provide in-house construction management. The overall project has a price tag of $1.4 million. The project is already budgeted for 2012 with a 13.5 percent local match by the city. City staff looked at four consulting firms to manage the work and recommended that the city council choose an outfit called Exeltech at the June 20 business meeting.