By David Jenkins

Staff Writer

[email protected]

Informative town hall style meetings about the upcoming November 7 Capital Improvement Bond election are on tap.

The first meeting is set for Saturday, Oct. 7 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in council chambers at 206 N. Murphy Rd. The second meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the same location.

Voters are being asked to decide on the sale of long-term bonds to finance nearly $23 million in projects and will vote separately in four areas.

According to Murphy City Manager Mike Castro, state law prevents the city from advocating or discouraging support for the four propositions.

There will be informational displays and exhibits in the city hall lobby prior to the start of the presentations in council chambers. The booths and photo boards will be broken down into the four major election categories. The general obligation bond presentations include: Proposition A totaling $15.5 million for street improvements, Proposition B at $1.7 million for public safety facilities, Proposition C for $1.3 million for improvements to existing municipal buildings, and Proposition D totaling $4.4 million for park and recreation facilities.

If approved by voters, the bonds would be sold in two issues, divided up over two years, the amount of time it should take the projects to be completed. In preparation for the bond election, a seven-person Capital Projects Advisory Committee was formed in November 2016. Over several months the group reviewed the city’s Capital Improvement Projects needs. They also held a pair of town hall meetings.

The committee was presented with recommendations from each city department head.

CPAC ranked projects in order of importance and then the projects were presented to council during summer work sessions. After review, council finalized the list for vote and called the election during an earlier meeting.

The city’s last successful bond election was in November 2008 totaling $16 million in three propositions. Citizens approved $2.5 million for remodeling and renovation of old city hall and the Murphy schoolhouse, $6 million for street improvements, and $7.5 million for parks and recreation.

For more stories like this subscribe to the print or e-edition.