LST 325 is currently docked at Marina Pointe, but it will soon have a new home in the heart of downtown thanks to a couple million dollars from the Evansville City Council.
Councilmembers voted 8-to-1 to give more than $2.7 million to Port Authority at a meeting Monday night.
The money comes from the city’s riverboat fund and will pay for the planning and construction of a new dock and visitor center for the LST across from Le Merigot Hotel.
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke presented the details of the move.
Every speaker during the public comment session that followed urged council to give the funds. Councilwoman Missy Mosby was the only “no” vote. She wanted to wait until the council had a copy of next year's budget, which Winnecke said they would have by the end of the week.
"I’m not saying I don’t want the LST to move. I think it’s a great idea," she said. "We haven’t even seen our budget books for 2019. So I’m concerned that I don’t know what we’ve got in our 2019 budget for our police department, our fire department."
The total cost of the move is almost $3.9 million. The LST Board has promised $175,000, which the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau will match. Tropicana donated $1 million in 2015, some of which has already been spent.
Bidding will take place in September, and the winner announced at the start of October.
