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BERMUDA RUN — When it comes to budget time, not many towns have to deal with gate operations when trying to nail down the final numbers.

However, that’s the situation in the town of Bermuda Run as the council heard in last Tuesday night’s presentation of the fiscal year 2025-26 budget when that part generated most of the conversation before the board ultimately gave its unanimous approval.

“No other municipality in the state of North Carolina has the responsibility of managing operations for a gated community,” said Mayor Mike Brannon of a final number of $1,038,750, which makes up a significant piece of the town’s total budget.

The general fund, which is the basic operating fund for town services, had the highest number of $3,001,400 for the balanced budget, and the utility fund came in at $794,950 — with the tax rate remaining at 15 cents per $100 in value.

Most of Meadwell’s comments focused on the gate operations and where things stand with the process going forward.

He said there was a slight change from what was presented at the time of the presentation in last month’s meeting with some of the numbers. 

“I’m pleased to announce that we have had three vendors submit bids on this, three on the all-inclusive model and two on just the staffing model,” said Meadwell. “So this correlates to a gate fee of right at $825 per year (for the all-inclusive model). That’s down from what was proposed at $856. 

“What this will allow is the ability as we go through this negotiation and choosing a contractor for these services, if we’re able to negotiate that rate down, we will apply any savings that we have to next year’s gate fund.”

Meadwell explained that it was imperative to have a number to send to the tax office so that this could be included in tax bills for this service fee for those residents.

“We’ll probably start with the all-inclusive model first since we had three bids for that,” he said. “And if we’re not successful, then we’ll have to turn to the staff model. We’ve already gone through the process of the review, but getting more serious in interviewing these vendors and drilling down into their actual proposals and hopefully have a recommended vendor and the ask to go into contract negotiations.”

Meadwell said he hoped a decision involving staff making a recommendation to council could be made in the next 30 days.

A public hearing followed the conversation of Meadwell and the staff with Dr. Suzanne Hess of Orchard Park Drive being the only person to sign up and speak, saying she and others weren’t exactly clear what was involved in the process, including what was the difference between all-inclusive versus the current staff model.

“What value does it bring to the community to go all-inclusive?” she asked. “You look at the number of hours Bermuda Run actually puts toward managing or overseeing gate operations, so what’s the value of going all-inclusive and leasing out to another company and apparently paying a lot more because the fees are going from $567 to the original $856, which is a significant increase. What does that bring us?”

Brannon followed this by saying he wanted to take the opportunity by not answering her question officially, but stating what has been discussed in prior meetings around the logic of the town overseeing gate operations in the community.

“Part of the driver, part of the task force that led this effort was the recognition that the all-inclusive is an opportunity for the town to get out of the business of managing gates — to be able to turn administration, facility maintenance and staff over to a third-party entity so the town no longer serves in that function. 

“To the second point to fees as was noted by the task force, the gate fee cost was going to go up regardless because there was a month-to-month arrangement with the current vendor but no formal contract in place. Numbers were going up anyway. So why not use this as an opportunity to also leverage the possibility for an outsource model for all services?”

Also in Tuesday night’s meeting, Davie County Sheriff JD Hartman gave a presentation, assisted by Capt. Matthew Pennington, on the year-to-date activity in town.

Hartman spoke of zone adjustments that have been made to narrow down areas of activity — stating many of the crime reports have been at Davie Medical Center, located on N.C. 801 right off I-40.

“Of your 970 CAD (computer-aided dispatch) activities inside Bermuda Run, 182 of them have been at the hospital,” said Hartman, adding that Sheetz, which is on the corner just across the street, was second. “Where your crimes are occurring is typically along your business district.”

He then compared Bermuda Run to Mocksville, since both share the interstate running through their respective towns.

“The highest volume criminal area we have is U.S. 601 in Mocksville,” Hartman said. “You’ve had 900 events so far to date. Mocksville’s had 3,300. If you go down to your zones, that little zone right there at the interstate, they’ve had 1,406 calls so far. So they’ve way outdistanced your entire city just in one zone, but it’s because of the interstate.”

The No. 1 crime in the town is misdemeanor larceny, but Hartman said that Bermuda Run has a low crime rate overall compared to towns of similar size.

“You have a very safe city,” he said.

In other highlights from last Tuesday night’s meeting, the council:

• Approved an amendment, following the Planning Board’s review and approval, proposing to assign the functions and responsibilities of the Board of Adjustment from the Planning Board to the Bermuda Run Town Council.
• Heard from Meadwell that the Davie County Board of Elections has approved the residents of Bermuda Run “Hillsdale district” to vote on General Election Day at the Town Hall instead of Hillsdale Baptist Church. Notifications will go out from the Board of Elections. 
• Approved proposed fiscal year 2025-26 town audit contracts: Tony Brewer, CPA, provided a proposal for audit services not to exceed $12,500, and there was also a proposal for Tourism Development Authority (TDA) audit services for a fee of $1,700.
• Approved a resolution authorizing the retention of SVT Engineering Inc., to perform engineering services related to stormwater system repair, maintenance and upgrading in fiscal year 2025-06.