The Aurora City Council is set to vote on spending about $1 million for new large video screens at RiverEdge Park.
Council members will vote Tuesday on a contract for five new screens through Sycamore-based Nighthawk Video. The five new monitors would be $923,867, with another $75,000 going toward additional purchases of materials for the installation.
The city received three bids for the screens, and Nighthawk Video was actually the middle bidder, about $10,000 more than the low bidder.
But city officials have said Nighthawk met the city’s specifications better, and is also the only one of the three companies that is nearby. That means the company can deliver the best product, faster, officials said.
In addition, they are closer when replacement parts are needed. They are willing to provide the city with loaner screens to use until the new screens are ready, officials said.
Currently, RiverEdge uses two large video screens that were installed when the park first opened about 10 years ago. Officials said they have exceeded their life span.
The screens are to the side of the stage, and on the back of the large steel structure in the middle of the park to allow people sitting further back in the park section to see the performers.
Under the purchase, RiverEdge would not only replace those two, but would add three more – two on either side of the stage, and a third further back to the southern end of the park.
The screens are 18 feet wide, and 11 feet tall.
Officials plan to add a sixth screen even further south in the park eventually. That would be in another contract later on.
The council’s Committee of the Whole this week placed the contract on the consent agenda, meaning it’s likely to be approved at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
