The Bel Air Town Commissioners will borrow a little more than $1 million from the town's unreserved fund balance when it goes to settlement on the BB&T site later this month.
At Monday's town meeting, the commissioners approved a resolution allowing the town to borrow $1,032,400, which will be repaid, hopefully by the end of February, according to Finance Director Lisa Moody.
Internal Revenue Service regulations required the board to approve the town's use of the unreserved funds to pay the remaining balance of the bank purchase, she added. Once the town receives demolition estimates in December, Moody said, they will search for financing for the demolition and reimbursing the unreserved fund balance.
The town plans on first demolishing the bank building, at 33-37 S. Main St., to become a parking lot and in the future, a municipal building.
The commissioners also passed an ordinance amending several portions of the town's development regulations.
No one commented on the modifications at a public hearing before the commissioners voted. Planning Director Kevin Small described the recodification as just re-formatting changes and not textual. The changes, he added, were from transferring the development regulations to the same general code format as the town uses.
Commissioners unanimously passed the ordinance. Small also said that in approximately a month, they planned on bringing more changes to the board.
Board members also voted to award two contracts, one for $32,100 to Akehurst Landscape Service to build an outdoor patio at Rockfield Manor. The funds are being provided by the Greater Bel Air Community Foundation and the Rockfield Foundation.
The other contract awarded was for $26,950 to Frank J. Goettner Construction Company to resurface Ewing Street. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing a large portion of the money, approximately $22,256, because Bel Air was declared a disaster area after the snowstorm in February 2010, according to Public Works Director Randolph Robertson.
The remaining balance, $4,694, will come from the fiscal year 2011 town buildings budget.
Other business
The commissioners recognized Bel Air Elementary School fifth-grader Christopher Roberts and two of the town's IT staff members, Josh Forth and Al White.
The next town meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in town hall at 39 N. Hickory Ave.