Murphy – Public restrooms at 39 Hickory St. downtown will operate on reduced hours to prevent abuse of the facilities.
The Murphy Town Council, which met Thursday, voted unanimously to restrict hours of the public men’s and women’s restrooms to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and closed on Sundays. Exceptions will be made for special events, such as the First Friday Murphy Art Walk.
The decision does not affect public restrooms at parks elsewhere in town.
Sandy Dobson, a Murphy certified public accountant whose office is near the public restrooms, asked the town board to close the restrooms except during special events. Dobson said she recently witnessed two people acting erratically near the restrooms, including a man who was later charged in the machete slaying of a former girlfriend.
“These are just two recent examples of people who frequent the public restrooms that appear to be unstable and possibly dangerous,” Dobson wrote in a letter to Mayor Tim Radford and the board.
“I have asked myself several times if I, a client, or my staff had left my office when the murderer was next to my office door and would have looked in his direction, would we have been his victim. The people I see going back and forth to the restrooms normally have backpacks and appear to be on drugs.”
Dobson said police told her there was nothing they could do unless those people trespassed on her private property. She said she fears for her safety, and customers have suggested she lock her doors during business hours.
“I would think no other office/business in Murphy has to have this concern as much as we do due to the public restroom allure to the ‘scary’ people walking down Hickory Street,” she wrote.
She said the restrooms are out of the way with no clear view from main street or any regular monitoring, “which leaves it open to someone attacking, raping, or killing an innocent person by someone like the murderer, who regularly visited the restrooms.”
The suspect in the homicide is in custody but has not been convicted.
She added that better security would free up police resources for other tasks.
Council member Charlene Smith said the restrooms are attracting homeless people, who even use it to bathe. Police Chief Tim Lominac said homeless people sometimes use the restrooms as shelter during bad weather.
“It was meant to be a good thing for Murphy,” Radford said.
Town Manager Chad Simons said the restroom issues are a symptom of larger problems of homelessness and drug abuse. If the restrooms were closed permanently, homeless people are just going to relieve themselves somewhere else close by.
Murphy Downtown Development Director Laura Lachance said except for restaurants, most businesses downtown don’t have public restrooms available for customers.
The restrooms had been kept open from around 8 a.m. to sundown, with doors locked and unlocked by police and other town officials as they fit it in their schedules.
Vandalism has not been a significant problem, Simons said. The restrooms have been vandalized four times in four years, including two incidents committed by the same person.
Amid the changed hours, Murphy police were instructed to step up patrols in the vicinity over the next couple of weeks.