Published: October 07, 2008 03:09 pm         

City officials hone in on bringing riverboat to town

ST. ELMO — City officials are getting closer to bringing the President riverboat to town.

The city’s attorney, Bill Austin, presented a proposal Monday he had drafted of an agreement between the city council and David Campbell of Effingham, who is co-owner of the riverboat, that outlines the responsibilities of the city and the riverboat owner in the project.

Mayor Jayson Porter told the council he wanted commissioners to look through the proposal and see if they had any questions or wanted to change anything in the proposal before it is signed. Changes, however, would have to be presented to other members of the council before being implemented into the proposal.

Once the council signs off on the agreement, it will be forwarded to Campbell, who also will have a chance to bring up possible changes.

“It’s going to be hard to get a proposal everyone’s going to like,” Porter said.

The city council will hold a special meeting next Monday at 7 p.m. at city hall to discuss the proposal once the council has had a chance to review it. Discussion about the possible lease or purchase of the church property where the boat will be located also was recessed until Monday’s special meeting.

St. Elmo officials have been working with Campbell for about three years in order to bring the President riverboat to the city. Campbell told the council in an Aug. 12 special meeting the funds to actually transport the boat to the city has been raised and he was still working on getting funds to restore the boat.

In other business, the board also:

• Awarded Brad Williams with the Citizen of the Year Award.

• Learned the building of the boat dock on Tower Lake has been placed on hold because of problems the city is facing regarding ownership of the land where the city was planning on placing the dock.

Jackie Gorski can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 128 or at jackie.gorski@effinghamdailynews.com.