AMSTERDAM — After two years of trying to get a security camera system for the city’s parks, it looked like everything was in place.

Bids were scheduled to be opened Friday and contracts potentially awarded at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, but the bid opening was canceled and the project has been stalled.

“Everything is on hold,” Deputy Police Chief Victor Hugo said. “The bid specs had to be revised because they weren’t specific enough for a lot of vendors who wanted to put in a bid.”

According to Hugo, city officials received notice from a few potential bidders who wanted to know where the cameras would be placed so they knew how much wire was needed.

Hugo said in light of those questions, Mayor Ann Thane, Corporation Counsel Gerard DeCusatis and City Engineer Richard Phillips agreed to pull the bid documents.

“We wanted further exploration so this will be done correctly,” Hugo said.

Hugo met this week with a consultant who helped with the Greater Amsterdam School District’s $1 million security system upgrades.

Hugo said there are a lot of factors to think about, including whether to go with a wireless system over a wired one, where to put the cameras and what type of software to use.

“It’s not just as simple as purchasing cameras and putting them up. There is a lot more that goes into this,” he said.

Hugo said he wants to find more grant money than the $20,000 state Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, secured for the city.

He said the system he wants is “a lot of money,” but wouldn’t be specific.

But 1st Ward Alderman Joseph Isabel said, “This has gotten just completely out of hand. We authorized the bids to go out; you can’t just stop the bids without our approval.”

Isabel said the system that Hugo wants is around $80,000 but the Common Council would never authorize a system that expensive.

“I’ve supported almost everything else at the Police Department, but … this is just too much,” Isabel said. “We’re going to use what we’ve got and that’s it.”

Isabel said the system the city intends to buy would still allow police to view and record activity at the park at the station and the cameras would still remotely swivel and move to detect activity throughout the parks.

He said two cameras will be purchased for each of the city’s three major parks — Shuttleworth, Veterans and Riverlink.

Isabel said he is making an appointment with Hugo this week to decide where the cameras should go and to determine how much wire is needed. He said the revised bid specifications should be ready by next week.