By Laura Swift


The Murphy City Council on Dec. 6 played the name game—the street name game that is—during a meeting to determine whether to change the names of a few residential and public streets around town.

Murphy Fire Chief Mark Lee said the Fire Department is working to clean up addresses throughout the city. He proposed that the section of Westminister Ave. in Daniel Crossing, phase D, be changed to Westminster in order to match the part of Westminster Ave. located on the north side of Betsy Lane.

“Westminister is not a word,” Lee said. “We’re looking to correct our spelling error. The option to change this will not be popular to the people living in Westminister.”

He said the 911 databases already reflect the correct spelling of Westminster and that the different street spellings could cause confusion and possible delays in emergency response aid.

Multiple Westminister-dwelling residents attended the meeting—some voiced their opinions and others waited to see the Council’s decision.

During the public comment period, one resident said he was for changing the street name to Westminster because living on a misspelled street is embarrassing.

Resident Amy Christner said she was against the name change because it would be time consuming and inconvenient to have to change the address on her driver’s license and various bills.

The Council weighed the pros and cons of changing the street name and decided not to approve the name change.

“I understand the need for consistency, but I’d rather not make people go through the trouble [with the name change],” said Mayor Bret Baldwin. “If this becomes an issue, we can take action on it later.”

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Colleen Halbert recommended that city staff notify residents about future proposed changes before Council meetings so the Council can get feedback on what residents want.

Council also discussed whether to change the name of FM 544 to Main Street (or any other name chosen by the Council) and change Betsy Lane to Park Blvd.

Lee said that 544 is Murphy’s main street that runs east to west. “The addresses on 544 are number-heavy,” Lee said. “For example, there’s 305 E. FM544 Suite 909.”

Last month, the Council approved to change the addressees for residences and businesses located in the central on western portions of 544. Since these changes are taking place, city staff said now is the time to change the name of 544 to coincide with the other address changes, if the Council chooses.

“Instead of Main Street, what about changing 544 to Plano Parkway,” Baldwin suggested.

East Plano Pkwy. and 14th St. turn into FM 544 in Murphy.

“I’m torn about this,” Halbert said. “I’m not thrilled about changing the name.”

In addition, former Murphy City Councils considered changing the name of Betsy Lane to Park Lane, but didn’t never took action on it, Lee said. Park Lane turns into Betsy Lane in Murphy. In Wylie, the street changes to McMillen and back to Park.

“I’d like to talk to Plano and Wylie about both of these streets and get their perspective about what they’re going to do,” Baldwin said. “If Wylie plans to change the portion of their street to Park, then it makes sense for us to change it to Park.”

The Council took no action on this item and will wait to get more information from neighboring cities.

In other news, Council approved an ordinance establishing the Murphy Fire Rescue Department as the agency responsible for providing emergency medical services (EMS) in Murphy. The ordinance contains a list of hospitals that EMS ambulances will transport patients to, including Medical Center of Plano, Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Baylor Plano, Campbell Methodist in Richardson and Parkland Hospital in Dallas.

“Why isn’t the Bush/Renner Methodist Medical Center included on this list?” Baldwin asked. The Bush/Renner Center is a gem for Murphy because of its close proximity and great medical care, Baldwin continued.

Lee said the Bush/Renner Center currently does not have an intensive care unit (ICU) with the same amount of resources as other hospitals, such as Campbell Methodist in Richardson. (EMS patients can request to be taken to Bush/Renner if they desire.) Bush/Renner is planning to expand its emergency care capabilities in the future, Lee added.

Council voted to establish an exploratory committee to investigate if residents would support building a community-built playground in Murphy Central Park.

“I’m all for the community coming together to build a playground,” Baldwin said.

In September, the Murphy Park and Recreation Board voted to recommend that City Council appoint a 501(c)(3) (nonprofit) committee to begin fundraising for a community-built playground.

Instead of appointing a 501(c)(3) committee, Council voted to form an exploratory committee in order to get resident feedback on the proposed project. If the committee reports positive feedback from residents, then the Council will move forward with establishing a 501(c)(3) fundraising committee.

In addition, Council voted to dissolve Murphy’s Community Events Committee. At a work session in October, Council discussed dissolving the committee, saying that members could offer their talents through volunteer opportunities for community events.

“This committee has done an extreme amount of work,” said Councilmember Dave Brandon, who voted against dissolving the committee. “We just renewed their charter and now we’re dissolving it.”

During the Council’s October work session, the consensus was that the Community Event Committee had fulfilled its mission, Baldwin said.

In other news, Council awarded the Liberty Ridge Park construction bid to Wall Enterprise and nominated Brandon for the North Central Texas Council of Governments’ Regional Emergency Preparedness Planning Council.