The Board of Mayor and Aldermen took action on two city projects — approving a contract extension for improvements at the Vicksburg Auditorium and authorizing City Clerk Walter Osborne to advertise for bids for a designer and construction administrator for the expansion of the tennis courts at Halls Ferry Park.

City Attorney Nancy Thomas said Byram-based Paveco, the contractor on the project to overhaul the auditorium entrance, asked for a change order to extend the project completion date to allow time for automatic doors for the auditorium entrance to arrive.

“The doors have been ordered, but it will be a while before they come in,” Thomas said. “So we’re just extending the contract to allow them time to get the doors in.”

The new entrance is part of a project to upgrade the 58-year-old auditorium that includes a handicap accessible ramp.

The extension is the second change order on the project. The board in October approved an $11,634 change order to repair a problem with a drainpipe that was uncovered during excavations to install the handicap ramp. The new change order will not cost the city.

Part of the $86,634 project cost is being paid with a $50,000 allocation from Ames, Iowa-based VenuWorks, a management firm that has a contract with the city to operate the Vicksburg Convention Center. At one time, VenuWorks’ contract with the city included operating the auditorium. The city took over management of the auditorium when the board approved a new contract with VenuWorks on October 2013.

Built in 1956, the auditorium has hosted the Miss Mississippi Pageant, been the venue for annual Veterans Day and Memorial Day programs, programs honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., musical and comedy shows, recitals and parties, and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen were sworn into office there in July 2013.

Getting proposals and qualifications for a project design and construction administration firm are part of the grant requirements for the $200,000 tennis court extension at Halls Ferry, which is funded by a $100,000 Mississippi Wildlife and Fisheries Land and Water Conservation grant and $100,000 from the city.

The project involves building two courts northeast of the park’s 10 existing courts and developing a handicap accessible walkway from the parking lot to the courts.