Should Washington’s City Council adopt the proposed fiscal year 2016-2017 budget Monday night, a new position will be created — a person responsible for keeping the downtown area clean and aesthetically pleasing.

The new position would be filled by a new city employee, City Manager Bobby Roberson said.

By taking money from the city’s façade-grant program ($20,000) and terminating the economic-development contract with Retail Strategies ($15,000), there is enough money to pay the salary and benefits for the “downtown employee.” That salary and benefits come to $31,436, according to the proposed budget.

The idea of the “downtown employee” was mentioned and discussed during the council’s planning retreat in April, during which council members, city staff and department heads talked about enhancing the city’s tourism efforts — especially marketing the city as a multi-day destination instead of a day-trip locale. The discussion ranged from making the city’s downtown cleaner and more visually appealing to a fueling station for boats at the waterfront to developing a plan to draw more visitors to the city and implementing that plan as an economic-development tool.

If the downtown area — involved in many of the city’s signature festivals and events — is an important element in the city’s tourism-development efforts, it makes sense for that area to be as clean and visually appealing as possible, council members said. Those festivals and events include Smoke on the Water, Summer Festival, East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships, Christmas parade, Music in the Streets, BoCo Music Festival and Marine Market.

The council is expected to award approve a $96,640 purchase order to B.E. Singleton & Sons for drainage improvements in the city, according to a city document. The project would be formally bid in June, according to the document, which specifies the money would be spent on equipment purchases. No other details were included in the memorandum from Frankie Buck, the city’s public-works director, to the mayor and council.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. To view the council’s agenda for a specific meeting, visit the city’s web­site at www.washingtonnc.gov, click “Government” then “City Council” heading, then click “Meeting Agendas” on the menu to the right. Then click on the date for the appropriate agenda.