Tarboro Town Council authorized the mayor to apply for a $675,000 federal Community Development Block Grant for Sara Lee Bakery during a brief meeting Monday night.

This comes after Council last week applied for a $450,000 grant from the North Carolina Rural Center for Sara Lee.

All together, the town is applying $1.125 million in grants plus investing $22,500 in local funds for Sara Lee, which recently announced an $11 million expansion that will create 45 new jobs.

The money would be used to purchase and install a 1,875-KW generator for standby emergency power at the plant off U.S. 258.

“This is a good project for Sara Lee and a good project for us because they are our largest employer (with more than 700 jobs),” said Town Manager Sam Noble.

In order to apply for the CDBG, the town also updated its Fair Housing Plan.

Both actions were approved by unanimous 5-0 votes by councilmen Buck Price, Al Hull, Danny Hayes, Jim Alford and Dr. Steve Hoard.

Councilmen Melvin Muhammad, John Jenkins, and Roy Gray were absent.

Council member-elect Candis Owens attended the meeting. She and other newly-elected representatives will be sworn in at the next regularly scheduled council meeting on Dec. 14.