Lafayette Gatling was given a flexible option to settle his debt with the city, its attorney, Gilbert Chichester, said today.

In what Chichester said was not a “drop dead letter” the city would allow Gatling to pay his February debt on the Roanoke Rapids Theatre and allow him additional time to make his March payment.

Chichester would not divulge further terms of the proposal citing ongoing negotiations. He did confirm the terms the city is offering are fair to Gatling as well as the city. If the undisclosed deadline is not met the city could start default proceedings.

“We want the theater to work,” Chichester said.

As of this afternoon the city had not received Gatling’s payment. The total Gatling owes is $196,406.98, rrspin.com first reported last week. Half is for February and the remainder is for this month.

Reached Wednesday in Chicago Gatling said he was with a family discussing funeral arrangements and could not talk. He did say arrangements were being made to pay the debt. Returning a followup call this afternoon Gatling said he could still not immediately discuss the matter.

In updates contained in Tuesday’s city council agenda packet, the city said it was told the payment could be expected by the end of the week and notes additional information requested by Bank of America has been forwarded.