Murphy City Council’s first meeting of the month began with an Arbor Day proclamation from Mayor Scott Bradley who proclaimed Saturday, Nov. 5 as Murphy’s Arbor Day. As part of the proclamation, the city is hosting volunteer groups that day to plant trees in the Timbers Nature Preserve. Residents quickly filled all volunteer slots and are asked to park along South Maxwell Creek Road on the day of the event.

In other business, the main part of the Tuesday, Nov. 1 meeting was a presentation from Public Services Director Tim Rogers on the topic of Boil Water Notices (BWN). Rogers explained to the council when these notices are issued and the standard operating procedures that automatically kick in.

According to Rogers, a BWN is issued as a precaution or notification to protect consumers when unexpected conditions in the water system cause a danger of biological contamination.

In the event of contamination, five city employees are immediately notified along with other Public Services on-call personnel including the public services director, public works superintendent, senior maintenance worker, water quality technician, then any on-call personnel. Depending on the scope of the event, more employees or contractors may be called in if necessary.

The public is required to be notified of the BWN within 24 hours, as required by state law. The city also has 32 public notice signs to post at popular intersections within the affected areas.

Rogers noted that the last BWN was some four years ago.

See the Nov. 10 edition of the Murphy Monitor for the full story