Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, unanimously endorsed a project that’s expected to bring new jobs to the area.

The council endorsed Beaufort County’s application for a building reuse grant for Project Acorn and approved the city paying half the cost of submitting the grant application and related administrative costs. The city’s projected cost is $9,250. Project Acorn, if funded, would allow Oak Ridge Metal Works to expand its facility from 22,000 square feet to 37,000 square feet.

Oak Ridge Metal Works, operating for about 30 months, currently employs 45 workers. The expansion would add 34 additional jobs, according to a city document. The average weekly wage for the new jobs is estimated at $1,044. The cost of the proposed expansion is $671,250, with the grant providing $335,625 toward the project. Oak Ridge Metal Works will reimburse the county for its contributions to the project, according to the document. The overall cost of the proposed project (expansion and equipment purchases) is $1.5 million, according to the document.

“The building owner will sign a promissory note as security for any claw-back if all the jobs are not created and maintained as required by the grant,” reads the document.

The grant is forgivable, based on creating the 34 jobs within 18 months and maintaining them for six months, the document notes.

In other business, the council adopted a budget ordinance amendment to provide the money needed to pay a clawback related to the Keys Landing subdivision.

The third installment of the Keys Landing grant clawback was due July 1. Because a requirement of the grant was not met, the city is liable for $75,000, according to a city document. Under terms of the grant, a specific number of homes for low-income to moderate-income people had to be built and sold to qualified people by the deadline, which was extended several times.

Construction of one home was completed by the deadline, with construction of two homes nearing completion, according to a city document.

The Keys Landing project, spearheaded by Metropolitan Housing & Community Development Corp., has had it share of problems, including finding eligible buyers for some of the houses.