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The Fort Payne City Council voted in a specially called meeting Tuesday to lease DeSoto Golf Course to Darrell Shankles for three years with an option for him to potentially buy it for $225,000.
The city bought DeSoto Country Club in 2008 for $311,000 while Bill Jordan was mayor. At the time, the country club was nearly $300,000 in debt and faced foreclosure after missing payments, according to press reports. It seemed like a bargain since this was about a quarter of its tax-assessed value of $1.2 million.
Council President Walter Watson, who was on that council, argued Tuesday in favor of the lease agreement, saying it was âtime to say enough and cut our losses. We have one of our own who wants to see what he can do with it. We need to wipe our hands because we have other projects weâve got to complete.â