City council will lay the groundwork for several paving projects at their meeting tonight.

Council will hold a public hearing and vote on a budget amendment that addresses paving funds and other items. The amendment would shift $4.75 million left over from previous paving projects into a 2014 paving fund.

Council will also vote on awarding two paving contracts. One would be for about $388,000 with PND Engineers for construction administration services on the paving work. The other is for $344,000 for R&M Consultants to do inspection and testing work.

Knik Construction is set to do the actual paving, which will include completing resurfacing on Airport Beach Road and East Broadway, plus paving of the city hall, high school and library parking lots, and the Unalaska Community Park trail.

Council will also weigh plan to acquire about 3 acres of tidelands in Captains Bay from the state of Alaska. The parcel would then be leased to OSI so the company can expand its dock. The city doesn’t have to pay the state for rights to these tidelands, but council must approve the acquisition of the land and work with the state before they can consider renting it out.

The budget amendment up for a vote tonight also adds an extension of a state library grant and two new coastal mitigation grants to the budget. And it allocates surplus money for new boilers at the city-owned Museum of the Aleutians building and the library.

Council will also take up a new budget ordinance that would allocate about $754,000 more for construction on the waste heat recovery project at the powerhouse. The new total cost of the project -- $1.25 million -- is nearly double the city’s original estimate for the work. Construction lead Electrical Power Systems says they need to do more upgrades at the old powerhouse.

The new budget amendment also incorporates a $3,000 state grant to pay for new cell door locks at the jail.

Council will also be asked to approve several appointments and reappointments to city boards. And Mayor Shirley Marquardt will swear in the city’s new finance director, Patricia Soule.

Council meets an hour early tonight, at 6 p.m. at City Hall.