ROCKWELL — The Rockwell Public Works Department came in significantly under its budget for the construction of a new building, and on Monday the aldermen approved allowing the department to use some of the savings to update a 50-year-old public works building.

Public Works Director Chris Renfrow said that the windfall partly came because the building permits received an exempt status from the county, which meant that certain engineering requirements did not apply.

“We did come in significantly under our line item on the building repairs. The new building line item was $125,000. We ended up spending, with the gravel and the building so far, about $86,000, so we came in a good bit under. What I’m asking for tonight is to be able to appropriate some of the funds that are left in that line item to get our public works building up to snuff,” said Renfrow.

Renfrow said that the main issue with the building currently is that the roof is leaking, due to issues resulting from the age of the building. He said that the fiberglass skylight has stress fractures that causes it to leak, the roof has rusted in many places and the gutters are attached to that roof and so would have to be removed and replaced. The building is currently used to house supplies that the department needs to keep dry, said Renfrow.

Renfrow asked for and received approval from the aldermen to appropriate approximately $15,000 from the line item for roofing repairs, approximately $4,200 for painting and approximately $3,100 for new gutter installation. That leaves the line item with approximately $15,000, which Renfrow said would go towards improvements in the town’s American Legion building, specifically renovating the kitchen.

In other news from the Rockwell Board of Aldermen meeting:

• The aldermen approved moving a large percentage of their fund balance and Powell Bill funding from a savings account to the North Carolina Capital Management Trust, which is a portfolio only accessible by local government entities. Town Clerk Marlene Dunn, who is also the town finance office, said that utilizing the trust would allow the town to earn more in interest while still keeping the funds accessible on a short-term basis.
• Renfrow said that the town had received compliments from residents on the recently-completed bathroom stalls at the town park.
• Police Chief Cody Trexler detailed the police department’s efforts in western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. He said that the department had four personnel stationed at the water depot in Fairview before being stationed in Hickory to provide security to a medical facility there.
• Trexler said that North Carolina Wildlife had reached out to the town about allowing an urban archery season in the Rockwell limits, which caused him to look into the town’s discharge of weapons ordinance and note that it was outdated. Currently, the ordinance forbids the firing of “bean shooters,” pop guns or slingshots among dangerous weapons such as firearms or bows. Trexler said that he would be looking into both the urban archery and weapons ordinance.
• Aldermen Dillon Brewer gave an update on the town’s most recent mural, which has been begun on the side of the Dimensions Dance Studio building and should be completed within the next two weeks.
• Brewer reported that the town’s new website is live at townofrockwell.com. He said that once the website is fully updated and the town is satisfied with it, the old website at rockwellnc.gov will be taken down and the new page will use that url.
• The aldermen received information that the NC Department of Transportation Division 9, which contains Rowan County, has committed $119 million over the division’s budget to projects and the negative is expected to grow as western North Carolina’s restoration needs are revealed. Brewer said that due to the division’s funding deficit, he believed that the US 52 bypass project would likely not be realistic for at least a decade.
• Mayor Chuck Bowman read a proclamation recognizing October 2024 as nation substance abuse prevention month.