ABERDEEN – The Aberdeen Town Board met Monday, Dec. 11.
To begin the meeting, the board swore in the elected members from the recent municipal election. Teressa Beavers and Bryan Bowles were resworn in and Elease Goodwin took the oath of office for the first time.
“What is neat about these communities in Moore County, none of them are partisan and I hope they never become partisan,” said Mayor Robbie Farrell. “When you run for an election in a small town, like any of the towns of Moore County, it is about the citizens. It is not about a party and if it ever gets to be a party, we’re going to be in trouble.”
The board then reelected Bowles as Mayor Pro Tem. Tim Helms also received votes.
Following the elections, the board held a public hearing to consider the acceptance of a bond for the infrastructure related to Shaw Landing Development.
“This request is for the neighborhood, Shaw Landing, that was approved some four to five years ago originally,” said Town Manager Paul Sabiston. “It’s the developer’s ability to request that some infrastructure be bonded, meaning that the developer is able to either put up cash or a purchase bond that would cover the cost of the infrastructure that has not yet been installed.”
The total amount to be bonded is $529,138.75, which the board accepted.
The board also approved an annexation request submitted by Habitat for Humanity of the Sandhills for approximately 103.23 acres of property located east of US 15-501 and south of Pee Dee Road and approved the awarding of a $935,920 bid and contract to North State Water & Sewer, Inc. for a sewer outfall project.
“It’s a big project in the sense that it’s going to add a main sewer line down Highway 5 and it will eventually feed into the new Pinehurst No. 10 development,” Sabiston said. “So that’s the important part of it. The different part of it, and it’s a good thing, there’s a percentage of this project that Pinehurst No. 10 is going to pay for.”
The board then awarded a $715,226 resurfacing contract to Highland Paving.
“We have reduced the number of streets from originally 13 and they are prioritized by the worst shape,” said Director of Public Works Joe Wood. “Main Street is at the top priority. If you’ve been down that street lately, it’s rough. We spent a lot of time this last week just looking at the streets and trying to get that number down without shortening the length of segments replaced.”
The project will repave parts of Kensington Way, W Saunders Avenue, E Main Street, E South Street, Sun Road, N Sycamore Street and Wilder Avenue.
The board also awarded a contract in the amount not to exceed $255,000 to Robert’s Brothers Paving for paving at the new Sportsplex. The funding will come from the CVB grant money.
Finally, the board approved a resolution to amend the fee schedule for the water and sewer and garbage rates for FY 23-24 to go from bimonthly to monthly billing.
“Instead of just dividing it in half, we actually increase what would really be just the one half of that a little bit with the idea that we want to make sure we have our costs covered now monthly instead of bimonthly and with the idea that we can avoid an increase hopefully when we go into our budget year for the 24-25 year,” Sabiston said.
According to Sabiston, the base rate for water and sewer will go from 5,000 gallons every two months to 3,000 every month.
“A modest amount of increase in this water bill ensures us of having a steady product,” Farrell said. “Nobody on this board wants to increase anything, but sometimes you have to.”
The Aberdeen Town Board will next meet Jan. 22.
