AUBURN – Councilors made it clear Monday that they don’t favor spending money to replace the fading paintings decorating the 770-foot-long concrete wall along Main Street.

“No designs, no landscaping architects,” said Councilor Mike Farrell. “I’m not in favor of spending anything on that.”

But councilors agreed to put the $20,000 of Community Development Block Grant money toward doing something with the wall, even if it meant simply painting over the murals.

“And we will not spend a penny of it without approval from the City Council,” City Manager Glenn Aho said.

Other changes in the block grant included money for heating oil assistance, and Aho said he was most concerned with making sure that funding was approved. Councilors approved an entire slate of changes, including $40,000 for the heating oil loans.

According to the program, the city will loan low-income families up to $1,000 – interest-free – to help pay for oil. The loans wouldn’t have to be repaid right away. The city would put a lien on the property and collect the loan when the property sold.

But councilors were more concerned with spending money decorating the walls.

The wall has been a home to murals of some sort since the early 1990s, originally depicting rural scenes. Those were replaced in 2001 by designs created by local artists and area schoolchildren. Some scenes depict balloons from the Great Falls Balloon Festival, while others show shoes being made. Another depicts the Great Auburn Fire of 1933.

But the paint is fading and peeling and needs to be updated. Mynahan and representatives from L/A Arts met with neighbors of the wall last spring to discuss replacing it.

L/A Arts Director Andrew Harris said neighbors suggested building frames into the wall, with room for changeable drawings.

“It’s very clear that the community takes great pride in the wall,” Harris said. Replacing the murals with a blank slate would be in an invitation to graffiti.

“You may very well end up with a wall you’d rather not see,” he said.