County moving forward with armory renovations

    Murphy – Cherokee County officials are moving forward with plans to renovate the former National Guard Armory and sell two buildings downtown.
    Outgoing Commissioner C.B. McKinnon kept his promise to move forward with the initiative last week, when he made a motion at the May 4 board meeting to start the process of selling county-owned buildings at 59 Hiwassee St. and 35 Central St.
    Commissioner Cal Stiles was the lone lawmaker opposed to both renovating the armory at 118 James A. Mulkey Drive and selling the two buildings.
    “I’m concerned about where our finances will be in the next six months,” Stiles said. “The state is already looking at a several billion dollar shortfall [due to COVID-19], and we know we’re going to be facing one here, too.”
    Preliminary plans estimate it will cost about $349,950 to renovate the armory to house personnel working out of the building on Hiwassee Street. Officials expect most of the work to be completed by county workers. Any renovations they cannot complete will be done by a subcontractor after the proper bidding process.
    “I think we can do it cheaper than that,” Commissioner Roy Dickey said. “Our maintenance department can do some of the renovation work in the armory to save us money and time.”
    Sale of the Hiwassee Street building, which houses Emergency Management Services and other government offices, is contingent on completion of renovations at the armory. At that time, personnel in the downtown property will move.
    “I would encourage the Town of Murphy to purchase that [Hiwassee Street] building and tear it down to make additional parking,” McKinnon said. “I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated by all the businesses [downtown]. We can sell you that building directly, we don’t have to bid it out.”
    Meanwhile, the building on Central Street is empty. Former maintenance personnel that once were housed in that location are working out of a property on Marks Drive. Stiles opposed selling the former maintenance building due to its proximity to the courthouse and potential to use it in the future. Instead, he would like to sell the armory, then construct a new building on county-owned property near the sheriff’s office on Regal Street.
    However, the other board members believe the armory is too valuable to sell, and the sale of the other properties will help pay for renovations.
    “The estimated revenue from selling those two buildings will come pretty close to covering the cost of renovation at this facility,” Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum said.