Bids for a contract to build a skate park and walking park at City Park will be sought in an advertisement, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen decided Thursday.

The vote was 2-0 to authorize City Clerk Walter Osborne to advertise. Mayor Paul Winfield, Osborne and city attorney Lee David Thames Jr. were in Phoenix for a National League of Cities conference.

City grants coordinator Marcia Weaver said hiring a professional design service to design the park and the trail is required under the $100,000 Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks grant that is funding the project.

The city is building the 5,000-square-foot concrete skate park and rebuilding and relocating the walking trail. The park and the trail are in a fenced-in playground and pavilion area west of the city swimming pool.

Weaver said under the terms of the grant, the company selected to do the design will meet with city officials, a representative of Skate MS of Jackson, a local skateboarder and a representative of Shape Up Vicksburg to discuss the project before making the design.

“We need to get the skateboarders’ input so we will know what they want,” Weaver said. “If we don’t build a park that will appeal to skateboarders, they won’t come.”

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen applied for the grant in March in response to complaints from residents about skateboarders skating in the streets. The city received the grant in September. Weaver said the park and the walking trail are expected to be completed in 14 months.