Centerville joins new program that pushes conservation

Centerville is the latest Iowa community to join a state program designed to encourage environmental practices. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources program is called “Rebuild Iowa.”D-N-R spokesperson Julie Tack says the program helps communities use local resources to increase the energy efficiency of local buildings. She says those improvements spur economic development in the community.Tack says the goal is to create enough improvements that the program becomes self-sustaining after the two years. Centerville is the first southern Iowa city to get involved in the effort.Tack says seven communities have already invested seven million dollars in the program, and are seeing a return of 700-thousand dollars-a-year. Some of the other communities involved in “Rebuild Iowa” are: Pella, Akron-Westfield and Muscatine.