The Greene County Development Corporation Board met Tuesday for its regular monthly meeting.

The Board first heard an update about a fundraising effort with the Paton-Churdan Early Learning Center. PCELC President Cassie Fiedler said the organization is wanting to move to a new location due to the current facility leaking water whenever it rains and it has lived past its lifespan. She pointed out that they were going to build new, until their contractor Allers Construction in Fort Dodge, estimated the cost to be $2.3 million. She added that’s when luck happened.

“And then about the time that we were getting those plans going, the Methodist Church in Churdan was up for sale. So we actually purchased the Methodist Church up there in September. And Allers have been working with us on doing a complete remodel and getting that up and running for a daycare.”    

Fiedler mentioned that the total cost their Board wants is a $1 million project and were planning to apply for a Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation grant as well as other financial opportunities. 

Then Chris Deal made an update for the former Greene County Middle School to apartment conversion project. He stated that after receiving initial approval from the State Historic Preservation Office, they are on within six weeks of completing the design phase and getting the project ready for bids, with construction to potentially begin in late spring/early summer. Deal pointed out that one of the caveats was that the gym would need to remain for five years after completion of the apartment renovations. The gym is currently owned by the Greene County School District. 

Then, Midwest Mission Public Relations Specialist Danille Curtis gave a report. Some of the information she went over included 600 volunteers at the Jefferson facility were recorded in 2024, with people from Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Illinois, along with Iowa. She said about $250,000 of in-kind donations were made in 2024, and that last year, Midwest Mission was about educating people with the Jefferson facility and this year, volunteers are able to stay for multiple days.

Multicultural Family Resource Center Director Sara Huddleston talked about working with immigrants about knowing their rights with the US American Immigration Policy and holding additional Spanish language classes, due to the demand from the public.