An open house is being held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. tonight at the site of the proposed new County Secondary Roads Department Maintenance Building and Shop in Newton. The Jasper County Board of Supervisors is asking voters to approve a $6.4 million bond issue to help pay for the facility, along with projects connected to the County Conservation Department and the Sheriff’s Office. The current Secondary Roads shop at 910 North 11th Avenue East in Newton is located about one-and-a-half miles inside Newton’s City Limits. Jasper County Engineer Mike Frietsch says that slows the department’s ability to mobilize to locations within the county because they have to navigate city streets. He adds the current facility consists of a main structure built in the 1930s, and an addition that was added in the 1980s. A basement underneath half of the main building has an elevated floor slab that the County Engineer says is in poor condition, and will need to be addressed within the next five years in order to continue using the main shop. Frietsch also claims the current shop space is constrained by conflicting uses in the same spaces, causing delays in equipment maintenance and repairs. This evening’s open house at the proposed new building site, 4800 Liberty Avenue in Newton, will include potential building plans and other information.