By Susan Kos

During the July 19th City Council session there were several points of interest on the agenda.

The council unanimously voted to act upon awarding a bid in the amount of $747,174.00 to Martin Apparatus, Inc. for the purchase of one (1) new Pierce 75’ Heavy Duty Aerial Ladder through Buy Board Cooperative Purchasing agreements, with payment being made in full net 15 days from the order date.  Fire Chief Mark Lee spoke of the prepay discount option the City will receive as well as other incentives.

The Council also unanimously voted to approve the purchase two (2) Solar Trash Compactors to be used as a pilot program in one or more of the City parks. The Compactors will be paid for out of the recycle rebate funds program the City receives as a result of citizen recycling participation. 

The Council then unanimously voted to direct the City Manager and the City Attorney to prepare ballot language for a Charter Amendment Election to be held in November 2010.

City Manager James Fisher also discussed with the Council his interest in updating the current Development Standards of the City Code of Ordinances. The discussion specifically revolved around Chapter 28. The City Manager presented comparison photos of retail buildings such as Starbucks and Walgreens from nearby cities and expressed concern in regards to the architecture of the same establishments located in Murphy.

Additional points of interest the City Manager shared involved guidelines for fencing and potentially having bronze colored traffic signals instead of what the city has currently.

Finally the Council approved the application of the City of Murphy requesting to amend Planned Development No. 09-02-784 for Retail uses on property located on East FM 544 west of North Maxwell Creek Road. This is the retail site that houses La Flor Mexican Restaurant as well as a dental practice. Tom Day who spoke on behalf of the leasing agent for the site stated the lack of parking around the building was an increasing problem for the tenants. The tenants are complaining of insufficient parking available for customers and employees. A vote was taken and passed, 6-1 with Councilmember Brandon in opposition to allow an area to the rear of the building currently assigned as a loading dock to be temporarily reassigned as Employee Only parking spaces. The Council hopes that once Lot 5 near that location is developed then additional parking will be available to be shared among all the tenants. 

The next City Council meeting will be held on August 2nd at 6pm.

At approximately 9:37 a.m. Saturday morning an unidentified driver of a Chevy Avalanche left the parking lot roadway to the west of Leslie Pools (FM 544), hit a culvert, and crashed through a brick wall causing damage to the home of residents Victor and Diana Varughest, 6001 Hagerman in Plano.

Mr. Varughest said that his 2 year old son Andrew normally plays in the family room, but the grandmother, Ammini Varughest, had little Andrew in the kitchen. As the crash occurred the grandmother quickly covered Andrew to protect him from flying glass. Fortunately no one inside the home was injured.

Mr. Varughest stated a female driver was the only person in the vehicle and that before being transported by ground ambulance to a hospital, the Murphy Fire Department had to cut her out of the vehicle. She was conscious at the time. 

Mr. Varughest also stated that it looked like the Chevy Avalanch at one point went airborne since much of the damage is on top of his home.

Witnesses commented that the vehicle was traveling approximately 60mph when it crashed through the brick wall that separated Mr. Varughest's property from the retail center that faces FM 544.