Burlington, IA – The Board of Directors for Geode Resource, Conservation and Development has voted to close the organization's office in downtown Burlington before the end of the year.
The building housing the office, 308 North 3rd Street, will also be sold.
Lee County Board Chairman Ernie Schiller serves on Geode's oversight board.
He says the top priority is now to find ways to continue the programs Geode has been involved in, including Buy Fresh, Buy Local and the Lake Geode Watershed.
"We have encouraged all of the current entities to seek out Pathfinders (RC&D) in Ottumwa," says Schiller, adding "there are also some 501C3 (non-profit) organizations that will potentially pick up some of these physical managements."
Pathfinders RC&D is the same type of organization as Geode, serving counties to the west of southeast Iowa.
Geode serves Lee, Des Moines, Henry, Louisa, and Washington Counties.
Schiller believes Geode's projects will not slip through the cracks during this transition, but he says some worries do creep in.
Federal budget cuts delivered the biggest financial hit to the organization.
Geode had to release its executive director earlier this year.
The rest of the organization's employees have been hired by RUSS (Regional Utility Service Systems).
Schiller says Geode will contract with RUSS's new finance director to handle paperwork until Geode is no more.