Construction season has begun, and the clock is ticking on the $500,000 state grant for City Meadow Park, but the sunken wetland below Station Place still lies untouched.

Bids for the project went out to contractors in May and were opened in mid-June by First Selectman Sue Dyer and members of the City Meadow Committee. All the bids came in above the $500,000 awarded by the state grant.

The grant was originally awarded in 2014 from the state’s Main Street Investment Fund and extended for a year in the fall of 2016. All work covered by the grant must be finished by December 31 of this year.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Molly Ackerly, chairman of the committee, “that we can either raise further money from private sources or cut back on the scope of the project.”

The low bidder was SumCo Eco-Contracting, LLC, a Massachusetts firm with extensive experience in restoring wetlands, controlling invasive species and building native-plant ecosystems in New England.

The selectmen’s office is vetting the low bidder and obtaining the necessary permits from the state. Construction, which can start only once the funding is in place, is expected to start in the second half of July, with a completion date in the late fall.