BERMUDA RUN – When Town Manager Lee Rollins was putting together the proposed 2018-19 budget, he gave extra consideration to fixing the streets.

“What I am recommending is an increase in street repairs of another $100,000 from $300,000 to $400,000,” Rollins said in last Tuesday night’s town council meeting. “Part of the rationale for that is we all know we are having extremes in weather and in temperature, and that is impacting the longevity of the paving jobs that we are having. I feel streets are a critical component of service to town residents. That’s what they expect.”

Rollins said that increase was one of the highlights of the General Fund that is proposed to be balanced at $1,835,000. In addition, the Gate Operations Fund is again proposed to be balanced at $512,247, and the Utilities Fund is proposed to be balanced at $532,500.

“We are continuing to allocate monies to capital project as we look at 2020 for our sewer project to tie in to the Northeast Davie sewer,” Rollins said, adding that the town is attempting to pay cash for that project when it’s time.

Rollins said the budget would include $80,000 for the first full year of funding the new community officer, who started his position late in 2017. This is a contractual arrangement with the Davie County Sheriff’s Department where the officer reports to the sheriff and the town reimburses the county for that dedicated service.

The council approved calling for a public hearing on Tuesday, June 12, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall on the proposed 2018-19 budget.

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In its agenda meeting on April 24, the council revisited the discussion on proposed text amendments for residential districts and uses after deferring a decision two weeks earlier in the regular April 10 council meeting to give more time to consider all the information presented.

They then took action in the agenda meeting, approving all of the text amendments presented except for the one where they did not approve limiting multi-family residential units above mixed-use buildings.

“What they did was approve text amendments to allow vacation rentals but did not approve the text amendment for multi-family to have to be above retail,” Rollins said. “Currently the zoning ordinance allows multi-family as a standalone project, and they’re keeping that as is.”

“Part of the conversation was there are caps in place in multi-family with the way it is set up in the ordinance that not more than 20 percent of any area can be multi-family anyway, so that caps the number of units you can have,” Rollins said. “And the other part is only 15 units per acre and a maximum building height of 60 feet, so you’re not going have that kind of project here like you do in Winston-Salem and Greensboro.”

In other business, the council:

• Approved a budget amendment allocating $114,663 from the Powell Bill fund balance, adding to the current budget year an allocation of $62,337 for two street repair projects – Old Town Drive and Lakeside Crossing – in Kinderton Village totaling $177,000.

• Heard from Mayor Ken Rethmeier that a new clock is now in place entering Kinderton and that there will be a ceremony soon dedicating it in memory of Bill Burnette, the Kinderton real estate developer who passed away in November 2017.

• Heard from Rollins that the town’s spring cleanup on May 5 was a “success” and that some of participants suggested having something similar in the fall. Rollins added he appreciated the partnership with Habitat for Humanity, which filled up almost two trucks with items “that they feel they can resell, so I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”

The town’s next free concert in the Sounds on the Square series will be the Special Occasion Band, which is known for playing beach tunes along with popular songs from the 70s and 80s, on Saturday, May 26 at 7 p.m. at the gazebo area just past town hall.