The DeWitt County Board will join with municipalities within the county in sending a letter to Illinois Governor, J.B. Pritzker, urging him to allow local businesses to safely re-open.

The Board unanimously passed a motion at its virtual meeting Thursday night to send the letter after getting consent from local health department leaders.  County Board Chair Dave Newberg read the letter, which opens by asking Pritzker to accelerate re-opening plans...

The letter, read by Newberg, goes on to acknowledge the seriousness of the outbreak, but it also points out the local economic impact of the shutdown...

Board member Terry Ferguson notes the letter came about to show a unified voice from DeWitt County municipalities.  He says the County Board was advised this was the safest way to show their support for local businesses...

DeWitt County State's Attorney Dan Markwell raised concerns if the letter had been presented to the DeWitt/Piatt Bi-County Health Department.  The board agreed to present the letter to the health department board next week, and would then proceed to send it to the Governor. 

In other business Thursday night, the DeWitt County Board:

> voted 7-4 in favor of increasing the DeWitt County Coroner salary from 20-thousand 5-hundred dollars to 23-thousand dollars over the next four years.

> The Board unanimously approved increasing the DeWitt County Circuit Clerk salary from 58-thousand dollars to 61-thousand 3-hundred dollars over the next four years.

> The Board unanimously approved county employee insurance packages for the next year.

> The Board also unanimously approved a referendum for the November ballot to combine the ambulance service in the Farmer City Fire Protection District into DeWitt County Emergency Services.