The City of Troy is about to embark on a more than $4 million utilities project to be complete within a year.

At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, the council approved to award bids for the project that will increase the city’s power capacity and upgrade distribution lines.

Labor and materials for a new Elba Highway power substation will cost $1,941,640; construction of a new transmission line will be $531,108; and upgrading distribution lines will cost $1,810,041. That brings the total project to $4,282,791.

The additions and upgrades are a result of a system study completed in 2008 and will be paid for by a bond issue.

The city sold 408 million kilowatt hours of electricity last year and is operating at 80 megawatts. The capacity for the city is 95 megawatts.

During the meeting, council members also voted to allow two property owners three months to bring exteriors of homes up to code or risk the properties being torn down. The discussion came after the homes were condemned by the city as “dilapidated and dangerous” and the homeowners appealed.

After introducing the amendments at their last meeting, the council adopted changes to the city’s zoning ordinance regarding fences, walls and hedges. Council members later voted to move a city easement at the request of property owner Allen Dunn.

Also at the council meeting, it was decided that Troy would become the state’s first Purple Heart City, following only seven other cities in the country. Monday night, Pike County became Alabama’s first Purple Heart County.