Murphy annexes fiveproperties
Frank Bradley Sentinel Writer

The Town of Murphy just got bigger. The Murphy town council voted to annex fiveparcels of land adjoining the town, together totaling about 12 acres. Three of the parcels lie west of town including a 0.94 acre parcel where the new Zaxby's restaurant is being constructed. Adjoining that parcel is a 0.88 acre parcel the Big D is situated, and next to it is a 1.79 acre parcel, which includes the Cherokee Well Drilling building;

Two parcels are located east of town: a 1.44 acre parcel which adjoins Sonics restaurant, which will be annexed effective December. Another 6.78 acre piece of land next to Circuit World is being annexed on which is located the radio tower and old Radford radio station studio. All properties are contiguous to the town. The annexations, which are effective immediately, were unanimously approved by the Murphy Town Council at its regular meeting on Monday, May 5.

In other matters, the board approved amendments to three town ordinances, including one regarding the town manager and another regarding a police ordinance. These amendments were minor and made to bring both ordinances in compliance with state law. The other ordinance had to do with the Code of Ordinances. That change required the book of town ordinances to be updated annually. This requirement did not exist under the original code. Mayor Hughes said the Code of Ordinances had not been updated since 1983. Instead the town had relied on changes to it in the chronology of minutes. The Murphy Code of Ordinances were updated in February of 2008, and in the future will updated yearly.

The council approved the hiring of two new firefightersto the town's firestation. They were Jeff Couglin and Freddie Hughes, both highly recommended by Fire chief Al Lovingood.

Mayor Hughes commented on all the good work being done to spruce up the town. Trees and shrubs have been pruned, weeds cut and pulled.

"The new section of Riverwalk is absolutely beautiful," Hughes said. "We are thankful for all the folks who had a hand in that, the volunteers put in a lot of labor. It is a great project and much used."

Hughes said the fountain in the park across from the post officehas been repaired for the upteenth time. He also said the town has received a lot of compliments regarding the work that has been done in the Depot area. He cited three buildings there, including the old Southern Depot which have been fixed up. He said the blocks in all three buildings came from the town's first concrete block company that had been operated by the Ramsey family.

Coiuncilman Frank Dickey asked the board's legal counsel to look at privilege license referred to in the Code of Ordinances, saying that they should be stricken out of the Code since the state of North Carolina had done away with them except for street vendors.

Dickey also asked that the town board be made aware of nominees to voluntary town boards at least by the Thursday before the town board meeting. Dickey said that would prevent board members having names of persons recommended for these positions sprung on the board on the last minute. Councilman Phil Mattox suggested that there should be a calendar which shows well in advance what board appointments need to be made. The rest of the council agreed.

The board also heard and approved the suggested budget regarding public housing. Director Bennie Palmer said the budget for next year was pretty much the same as the revised budget for 2008. She also asked the council to write off the loss of rents from the Housing Authority, which she said was less than 1 percent. The council approved both the budget and the write-off recommendation complimenting Ms. Palmer for the good work she is doing with managing public housing and keeping the place looking good.

Councilman David Hilton explained that the recommended housing budget had been sent to each board member earlier for their perusal.

The town has 84 housing units at four sites. Palmer said that renters, mostly elderly, single moms and disabled persons are required by HUD to pay 30 percent of their gross earnings for rent, which includes water, sewer and electric. She said Social Security Tax and Medical Tax are not included in the computations. The four sites include 36 units at Beal Circle (across from McDonalds), 10 units above the Depot on Hiawassee Street; 34 units at Cool Springs, next to MGM, and four units in Texana.