Murphy – State government vehicles have been parking in front of the Cherokee County Historical Museum, and town officials aren’t happy about it.
The Town of Murphy removed parking restrictions for six parking spaces that had been reserved for police use before the Murphy Police Department moved its headquarters from the ground-floor corner of the old Carnegie Library Building on Peachtree Street to a renovated bank building at Hill Street.
On March 3, the town council voted to make two of the spaces handicapped parking, with the remaining four public parking spaces. The council also decided to dedicate two parking spaces on nearby Alpine Street for the museum.
Mayor Pro Tem Frank Dickey, filling in for Mayor Tim Radford at the Sept. 10 meeting, said the street parking spaces were being used by the state vehicles, and they were remaining there around the clock.
The vehicles are normally parked on a lot off of West Central Street, but that lot was being resurfaced and closed to parking while the work was in progress. The lot reopened, but at least one of the state vehicles continues to be parked in front of the museum.
Dickey said the spaces were being “abused” by government workers. The council took no action at that meeting, but members planned to discuss it at the October meeting.