The DeWitt County Board decided to move forward with selling the Clinton Lake Marina.

At Thursday night's County Board meeting, a motion was brought before the Board to pursue the sale of the marina. Dan Matthews, DeWitt County Board Chairman, indicated State's Attorney Dan Markwell insisted on having the motion voted on before appraisals or any other steps were taken.

Board member John Werts stated he would be in favor of a hybrid of leasing the marina and selling it. Terry Ferguson noted that similar options had been looked at in the past and were in favor of getting out of the business entirely. Matthews said he believes selling is the best option because the Board had more important issues to focus on.

Board member Tom Farris noted that the problems facing the marina are similar to the problems that surrounded the nursing home when the County owned it. He believes it is in the best interest of the County not to run the marina on a day to day operations.

Werts mentioned a possible problem with selling it would be becoming dilapidated and the County would potentially lose out on tax dollars. Brian Riddle was concerned it could be turned into a private marina, but Joe Witte stated the Board could put in stipulations to prevent that from happening.

The motion passed 9-2, with John Werts and Brian Riddle opposing and Melonie Tilley being absent. A motion was also passed to seek bids for appraising the marina properties.