During its Dec. 12 meeting, the Washington City Council authorized the mayor and chief financial officer to sign documents related to a grant to help pay for downtown revitalization.

The grant documents were delayed in reaching the city because they were mistakenly sent to Washington County, according to City Manager Bobby Roberson. Through the efforts of Matt Rauschenbach, the city’s chief financial officer, and John Rodman, the city’s director of community and cultural services, those documents made their way to the city, Roberson noted.

“We’re ready to move forward on this one,” Roberson told the council.

The city was awarded a $94,340 grant, which will be used for enhancements in the city’s central business district, including streetscape projects. The money, awarded by the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Rural Economic Development, will be distributed this way: $10,000 to Arts of the Pamlico to provide downtown artwork, $30,000 for the city’s façade-improvement program for downtown and $54,340 for streetscape, park improvements and possible Wi-Fi connections downtown, according to a city document. The City Council and the city’s Historic Preservation Commission would approve all design aspects of such projects.

The council has until March 31 to spend the money.

In August, the City Council voted 4-1 to adopt the funding recommendations from a group that discussed how to spend the money. Before the Aug. 8 council meeting, Roberson met with group representatives — Arts of the Pamlico, Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce, Washington Tourism Development Authority — and city staff to develop a plan on how to spend the funds.

“I’m not opposed to the motion. I think before you proceed to do any work on the southwest corner (at the intersection of North Gladden Street, West Main Street and Stewart Parkway) of what you’re calling Crab Park that that come back because I still feel, and I think the mayor does, that we ought to square the corner, and if you’re going to square that corner, you ought not to do anything with it until we make that decision,” said Councilman Doug Mercer, who is on record advocating a reconfiguration of that intersection.

“The answer to that question is we’ll bring it back because if we go after bids, naturally, the council will have to buy into it whatever the design aspect of it is,” Roberson said. “It wouldn’t be effective for us to go out for something the council does not want.”

Council member William Pitt asked for the word “possible” in the phrase “possible Wi-Fi” in the grant document removed. “Since none of the other items are listed as possible, I’d like the word ‘possible’ struck from the document,” said Pitt, long a proponent of city-provided Wi-Fi in the downtown/waterfront area.

“That would be alright, except we sent up the application based on information that you have. So, we’ve got to pretty well follow the application. We can ask for an amendment once we get into it, and then the council would have to buy into the Wi-Fi. We’ll be bringing that back to you for consideration,” Roberson said.