Only two months into the new year, Bermuda Run has seen the departure of two members of its town council.

The latest to announce plans to leave is Ken Bateman, who resigned his seat effective Feb. 16. That was to be the day after the regularly scheduled February meeting, but it was cancelled due to no proposed action items on the agenda.

Bateman said he had decided last November not to seek re-election this fall to spend more time traveling but determined he now would miss too many meetings to remain an effective councilman.

Shirley Cagle resigned her position on the council in January because she moved to Clemmons.

That leaves Bermuda Run with only three council members – Ed Coley, John Guglielmi and Jerry West. The council only needs to have three council members for a quorum.

The terms for both Bateman and Cagle, the two top vote-getters in the 2013 election, were to expire in November 2017. After Cagle’s departure in January, town manager Lee Rollins said that the council had two options to replace her – have a meeting and make motions to appoint somebody, or go through a nomination process.

At that time, he said he would ask the council how to proceed before talking about candidates and speculated the council may just appoint a replacement.

However, Rollins offered a different opinion after Bateman’s announcement.

“With the general election this November, I’m not sure if the council will appoint two members now or not,” he said.

Bateman, who lives in Kinderton Village, was part of the effort of that community to be voluntarily annexed by Bermuda Run in 2012. He said it has been his pleasure to serve on the council for the last three years but added he and his wife, Patsey, want to spend more time traveling, especially visiting aging sisters and their families along with children and grandchildren in connecting states from Alabama to Wisconsin.

“To achieve what Patsey and I desire, I would not be able to attend more than approximately 40 percent of the town council/agenda meetings for the remainder of 2017,” Bateman said. “That is not acceptable to me and certainly would not be fair to the town.”

The next scheduled Bermuda Run Town Council meeting is Tuesday, March 14.

Rollins said that the state statutes require the council hold a public comment opportunity at least once a month, and that obligation will be fulfilled for February at the agenda meeting next Tuesday at 9 a.m.