Murphy – The town’s elected leaders met for hours Monday to assess the state of Murphy, identify needs and map out its future over the next decade or so.
The meeting, called a retreat, was held at Mariolino’s Italian Cuisine, which itself can be counted as a win for the town. The restaurant moved into a vacant storefront off of U.S. 64 West in 2024, joining sister locations in Andrews and Hayesville.
Attending the meeting were Mayor Tim Radford along with council members Cindy Chastain, Frank Dickey, Barry McClure, Charlene Smith and Gail Walker Stansell. A seat formerly held by Keisha Dockery remains vacant since her resignation in August 2024.
Also present was Ona Elkins, an AmeriCorps worker who has been assisting the town with grant applications and other projects.
Murphy has been enjoying a period of stability with a town council relatively free of controversies, fund balances in the black, infrastructure issues that are being addressed, and the receipt of more than $12 million in state and federal grants for numerous projects since 2021.
Town council members attributed that stability to a council that works well together, a mayor good at networking and communicating, and a town manager – Chad Simons – providing sound management practices.
“We’re in a really good place,” Simons told the council Monday. “I want to emphasize that.”
State of the town
Grant funding has helped fund a range of projects including water and sewer connections to the newly constructed Valley River Apartments, a sewer lift station serving Peachtree and the U.S. 64 West corridor, new downtown water lines, a new garbage truck and renovating the new police headquarters off Hill Street, just to name a few.
During coming months, the town council will discuss a vehicle fleet management program at its March meeting that will keep police and public works vehicles updated and maintained at the same cost – or better – than it has been with the town owning its own vehicles. Under town ownership, many town vehicles have been run into the ground, while a fleet management plan will prevent that from happening.
The town will also negotiate with Cherokee County for full use of the former National Guard Armory east of town. The Murphy Fire Department uses some of the space, with offices and other spaces occupied by the county.
The county had planned to operate emergency services from the building, then offered it to Cherokee County Schools as a central office, but has no plans for the facility at present. The town is hoping it can acquire use of the entire property for use by public works and enhance fire department services.
The town is looking into a $500,000 grant, with a $500,000 local match, to build a splash pad at Konehete Veterans Park as part of efforts to add family friendly activities. It would join a planned performing arts stage that the town and county are working jointly to build.
Biggest of all, the town is facing more demands on its sewage treatment plant with a 296-room expansion at Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel, opening of the 56-unit Valley River Apartments and several other smaller housing projects on the near horizon. The town will seek grants in the neighborhood of $30 million to pay for that project.
The town has just adopted a revised sidewalk ordinance that requires developers to build or pay the town to build sidewalks at new projects. Town council members would like to see other steps to make the town more pedestrian friendly, including lighted pedestrian crosswalks, flashing pedestrian signs, and extended nature paths and boardwalks along the rivers.
The future
Town officials see Murphy’s core values as being a “Norman Rockwell”-like town that is friendly, outdoor oriented and rich with history, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
They’d like to see a downtown enriched with an outfitters store, a general store, a hotel, a breakfast/lunch restaurant and a renovated Henn Theater.
Dickey said key features of downtown include the Cherokee County Museum, Henn Theater and a large selection of non-chain restaurants.
Radford said he would like to see a community center in Murphy.
Simon said the town is hoping to add annual brush removal to its garbage schedule as a service to Murphy residents.
Smith said she would like to see more police on walking patrols to improve public safety.
The town’s traffic circle project will also include reconfiguring lanes and parking spaces, leading to a gain of 12 spaces. A project to move county offices out of the courthouse to a building planned for completion in 2026 will lead to more parking downtown as county workers relocate. The town also gained parking spaces when it moved the police department to Hill Street.
The next challenge, town council members said, is to convince business owners to park somewhere other than in front of their own businesses.