MURFREESBORO – Every now and then it’s always nice to get a little help, especially if you’re a small rural police department in northeast North Carolina like the Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD).

At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Murfreesboro Town Council, MPD Police Chief Darrell Rowe announced a $23,000 grant had been received from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development.

The funds from the grant will be budgeted toward new vehicles for MPD.

“We’re very happy to receive the grant,” said Rowe.

Rowe said earlier this year when USDA Rural Development was contacted he was told they did not have any grants available at the time.

Later Susan Christensen with USDA Rural Development contacted Rowe to tell him there was $10,000 available for the police department. Rowe along with Mayor Lynn Johnson and Christensen put together an application for a grant.

Christensen then contacted Rowe again to inform him an additional $13,000 was available.

“We’re constantly looking for more cost effective ways to equip the police department,” said Rowe. “We understand that money is tight everywhere.”

He added the majority of the more expensive equipment the department has purchased since 1999 has been done so with grant money.

In other business, the council approved a request from the Murfreesboro Planning Board for an amendment to the zoning ordinance to add funeral homes as a conditional use to the C-1 Central Business District.

Edgar Turner submitted the request for his visitation funeral home on Wynn Street.

According to Murfreesboro Town Administrator Cathy Davison, the funeral home will be visitation only. There will be no preparation of bodies, ceremonies or a chapel on the property.

If the amendment of the ordinance is approved it will state, “Any residential or commercial structure occupied within the previous 180 days, located on a non-conforming lot, previously approved and recorded, shall be allowed to be replaced if destroyed to an extent of more than 50 percent of its replacement cost at the time of destruction, within the same foot-print as the original structure if destroyed by fire or an act of nature but construction of any residential or commercial structure located on a non-conforming lot must be started within 180 days from the date of destruction.”

The council approved a resolution for continued dental and life insurance for retired town employees.

The resolution states, “Upon the acceptance of the Town of Murfreesboro’s request to the League of Municipalities-Municipal Insurance Trust of North Carolina, concerning retiree continued coverage for dental and life, that retirees wishing continued coverage reimburse the Town of Murfreesboro in full for the said coverage paid to the League of Municipalities- Municipal Insurance Trust of North Carolina on their behalf.”

To be eligible for the Municipal Insurance Trust of North Carolina, the retiree must have 10 years with the local government retirement system, five years tenure with

Murfreesboro governmental unit, select retiree coverage within 30 days of retirement and dependents must be covered for one year or longer as a dependent of the retiree.

The board was also informed of channel line-up changes for consumers with Time Warner Cable. Effective July 17, the Travel Channel will move from channel 74 to 152, Noggin will move from 184 to 74 and VH-1 Classic will move to channel 66.