Washington’s City Council on Monday authorized the mayor to sign a professional services agreement between the city and Mid-East Commission for the commission to provide administrative services for grants related to water and sewer projects in the city.

Mid-East Commission will be paid $25,000 to provide the services. The commission was instrumental in the city receiving grant funds for the projects, according to a city document.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration is poised to provide $706,133 for the water projects, with the EDA providing $719,920 for the sewer projects. The city is contributing $706,133 toward the water projects, for a total budget of $1,428,262 for the water projects. To date, expenditures for those projects are at $15,232.08. The city is providing $703,974 for the sewer projects, for a total budget of $1,423,894 for the sewer projects. To date, $124,530.91 has been spent on those projects.

The water projects include installing a 16-inch line and constructing a liquid chlorine system that would be used to treat the raw water the city draws from several wells. Currently, the city is using a more dangerous gaseous chlorine system.

The 16-inch line would parallel the existing 20-inch line that transports water from the city’s treatment plant near Beaufort County Community college. It would serve as redundant transmission line, according to Allen Lewis, the city’s public works director.

The sewer project includes building a pump station near Water and Bonner streets and installing a generator that automatically turns on if the normal power supply is disrupted, Lewis said. A new similar generator would serve the Cherry Run pump station, which is down stream from the Beaufort County Industrial Park. Another similar generator is targeted for the city’s wastewater treatment plant near National Spinning. An existing generator can provide enough emergency power to operate that treatment plant at half capacity, Lewis noted. The new generator, in use with the existing generator, would allow the facility to operate at full capacity, he said.

The water and sewer projects are on schedule, according to city documents.

Design work on the water and sewer projects is under way, as is the effort to acquire the required permits for the projects.

EDA will review the project details before giving final approval for them to proceed, Lewis said.

The city will submit reimbursement requests to EDA as the projects progress. Reimbursement requests for design work for the projects cannot be submitted until 25 percent of the overall construction work has been completed, according to grant requirements.