A former director of finance for the city of Murray will take on the same role in an interim capacity following Alan Lanier's resignation last week.
Don Leet served as finance director from 1990 to 2007 under four different mayors. Leet retired only last month from his position as finance officer at Murray engineering firm Bacon Farmer Workman. Mayor Jack Rose, accounting manager Kim Wyatt and human resources director Cathy Morris are handling the job’s duties until Leet’s retirement paperwork is sorted out in Frankfort.
“We felt like we could work it together for a while, but from the very beginning, I knew we needed to bring someone in to help," Rose said.
Rose told the city council at Thursday night’s meeting the full-time position will be advertised on the city’s website beginning Friday, for a period of three weeks. Morris said the job will pay between $57,000 and $96,000 based on experience.
Meanwhile, the city council’s transportation committee has approved Bacon Farmer Workman to help the city decide what to do with the busy portion of 16th Street that cuts through Murray State’s campus. Possibilities include closing 16th from Main Street to Chestnut, building a pedestrian underpass and relocating 16th Street farther west so that it snakes around the new biology and chemistry buildings.
Mayor Jack Rose says BFW will coordinate several public hearings to gather feedback.
“We want people to know what we’re doing," Rose said. "We want people come and tell what they think because anytime you talk about making any kind of significant change in a street that is as heavily utilized as that is, you’re always subject to some differences of opinion.”
Rose said the city will decide what to do with the street by November 1 so it can present the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet with a construction budget to be considered at the next meeting of the General Assembly.
Transportation committee chair Dan Miller says 16th Street sees around 10,000 vehicles a day.
