The $280,000 project is being jointly funded by the three levels of government.

The 20-camera network makes use of the National Broadband Network, with the new infrastructure also to be used for a free Wi-Fi service for Kiama's town centre.

The first stage is the cameras themselves, and the second is the introduction of Wi-Fi.

The cameras will be installed in Terralong Street and Railway Parade while the second stage will loop back to Terralong Street via Bong Bong Street and Manning Street.

The cameras are designed to blend in with the Kiama streetscape, and will have footage broadcast live through to the Lake Illawarra Local Area Command.

At last Tuesday's extraordinary meeting, councillor Dennis Seage submitted a Notice of Motion that the council delegate authority to general manager Michael Forsyth to award the CCTV camera supply and installation tender, "that is expected to be in the vicinity of $100,000 and certainly less than $150,000".

Mr Forsyth was given delegated authority to determine the successful tender.

CCTV tenders have been called for and a pre-tender meeting was attended by 32 people.

"Tenders close on December 8," Mr Forsyth wrote.

"It is not considered to be possible to thoroughly review the tenders in time for a report to the council meeting of December 16.

"The next scheduled meeting of council is on February 10.

"As a matter of practice tenders of this value would normally be reported to council, however the motion proposed by Cr Seage will allow the tender to be determined as soon as possible therefore avoiding any further delay with the project."

Mr Forsyth said this was necessary to progress the project.

"To make the timeframe, we've got a funding agreement with the government, so we're trying to meet the timetable that we originally set," he said.

The tender decision was to be made in January.