The Picayune City Council held a short meeting yesterday to handle routine matters since the council won’t meet again until March.

Council members, supervisors, a chamber representative and the city manager are traveling to Washington, D.C., to lobby the congressional delegation for funding for local projects. The trip was approved at an earlier City Council meeting, said City Manager Ed Pinero.

“This is our annual effort (to informCongress of local needs,” Pinero said.

The members handled two matters having to do with the Intermodal Center that is to be constructed at the rail stop for the Amtrak train that comes through town.

The council voted to advertise for construction engineering services and to revise the budget to move funds from the park and ride facility and real estate acquisition to construction and contingencies.

The council also modified the budget between the city and the Mississippi Development Authority to reflect changes the MDA has made in the Outcome Performance Matrix.

The council voted to advertise for bids for improvements to the airport in fiscal year 2007. The improvements would include concrete paving, grading, asphalt automobile parking and related items.

The board also move a contractual matter from executive session to the open session when City Manager Ed Pinero said he had mistakenly placed it on the executive session portion of the meeting. The board then voted to have the mayor sign the paper work for a $1.5 million Community Development Block Grant.

The board went into executive session to discuss contractual matters with Pearl River County and with Chevron before adjourning until 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 6.

Following the executive session, the council approved an inter-local agreement in which the city will provide materials and the county will provide labor and machinery to overlay some city streets, Pinero said.