Kevin Murphy retires as city attorney

By Beverly Bryant/ News Director

Ponca City’s Board of Commissioners took care of a little business Monday night, receiving a report on an independent auditor’s review of the 2013-14 fiscal year financial statements from Stotts, Archambo, Mueggenborg and Barclay, PC.

The audit again gave the city an “unqualified opinion,” which is the best rating possible. The entire audit report is available for the public to review at the Ponca City Library. Auditors had high praise for the city financial staff.

However, the man of the hour was City Attorney Kevin Murphy, who is retiring after serving Ponca City for 33 years. A reception before the commission meeting honored Murphy, and City Manager Craig Stephenson and Mayor Homer Nicholson presented Murphy two medals during the meeting.

Each of the commissioners present spoke about the guidance they received from Murphy.

“Thank you for being that man of honor,” Commissioner R. Mark Macy said.

Commissioner Lanita Chapman told Murphy “Retirement is just a little piece of heaven every day. You’re going to love it.”

During citizens’ comments, Deputy Fire Chief Skip Jump spoke about how much he has appreciated Murphy through the years.

“Regular folks think a lot of you too, Kevin,” he said. “You will be missed.”

Murphy took the moment to get a laugh from the audience.

“What Skip didn’t tell you is we started off in a fist fight,” Murphy said. “After that we kind of got some respect for each other.”