WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Wilmington City Council members are out of office this week.

Mayor Bill Saffo and Councilmembers Clifford D. Barnett, Charlie Rivenbark, Luke Waddell, David Joyner, and Salette Andrews are in Washington D.C. at the annual National League of Cities Conference.

Councilmember Kevin Spears is not in attendance.

“We’re hearing from a lot of folks that have similar challenges that we do,” Joyner told WECT from Washington.

The purpose of the conference is for city, town, and village leaders from across the country to come together to focus on improving the quality of life for current and future residents.

WECT caught up with Joyner and Andrews to hear what their priorities are for the week.

“Affordable housing, quality drinking water, homelessness,” Joyner said to name a few.

Joyner said this week is all about building connections and bringing solutions back to the Port City.

“Important to note, we have really narrowed down our advocacy goals here, things that we all agree on, unanimous support from the city council in a lot of our efforts here,” he said. “We’re looking for partnerships with Congressman [David] Rouzer, and Senators [Thom] Tillis and [Ted] Budd to make sure we’re finding opportunities and solutions for Wilmington that we can all agree on.”

However, city leaders are also using their time in the capitol to talk with U.S. senators and representatives about the funding impacts for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement project.

“We want to make sure that the funding continues and that we actually get enough to complete the project,” Andrews said.

Last week, city leaders found out that $242 million in federal grant funds were put on pause due to the Trump Administration’s spending cuts.

Andrews said there is no denying that the longer the funds are paused, the more expensive the project becomes.

Senator Tillis noted the funds are not in danger of being removed.

However, the North Carolina Department of Transportation confirmed the project has doubled in cost.

The project is now estimated to cost over $1 billion due to inflation impacts on materials.

“We would like to see as much money of that as possible come from the federal government. That leaves less money from the state. Also, it helps reduce the possibility that we will have to charge a toll,” Andrews said.

Joyner said this week is also about learning the impacts the federal pause on grants will have on the city in the long term.

“We’ve gotten some details on what the history has been on these sort of pauses and reviews. As we have been advocating specifically with the bridge, we’re getting a better understanding of the timeline so stakeholders in Wilmington understand every touchpoint,” he said.

City council plans to be in Washington until Wednesday.

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