The Jasper County Conservation Board will break ground at 3:00 p.m. this coming Monday for phase one of the Environmental Education Center Project. The 7,200-square-foot building will house the offices for the County Conservation Department and have classrooms for educational programs. Jasper County Conservation Director Keri Van Zante says the low bid of $2.9 million came in higher than expected. 

“We were thinking it was going to be 2.6-million.  We have 2.6-million. So we are going for another $300,000 to $400,000 to keep everything in the design that we want.”

To help cover the shortfall, the owners of Keystone Laboratories in Newton have issued a challenge grant. If the community can raise $100,000 by the end of this year, Jeff and Jodi King will match that $100,000. In return, the new facility will be named after their daughter Dana King Ceretti, who died of cystic fibrosis in December 2009. Jasper County Conservation Director Keri Van Zante talks more about the Environmental Education Center Project on today’s Greater Newton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Let’s Talk Newton