New Marion library director announced

MARION — The Marion Public Library announced Monday night that Bill Carroll will be its new director.

“I’m so excited to get started,” said Carroll, one of two finalists for the job. “I have such high expectations that we’re going to take the Marion Public Library to new levels of excellence.”

Carroll, most recently the director of branch operations at North Central Washington Libraries in Wenatchee, Wash., isn’t a stranger to Iowa.

He previously served in various roles at the Carnegie-Stout Public Library in Dubuque for nearly a decade before taking the Washington position.

“We look forward to his expertise on a variety of fronts, from mentoring and guiding staff, to overseeing the completion of the new library facility and reuniting staff and materials under one roof,” said Sally Reck, president of the library board.

During his public interview last month, Carroll said he is looking to finish his career in Marion.

“I want to remain the director until I retire,” Carroll previously said. “Those are my long-term plans. I would love to come back to the Midwest and finish out my career in a town like Marion.”

The other finalist was Dan Brower, assistant director and head of public service for Cass County Public Library in Harrisonville, Mo.

Carroll’s first day on the job will be July 26. He will take over the reins at a time when the library still is months away from having a new, permanent home.

For now, the library has locations in multiple spots: a small Uptown Marion branch at 1064 Seventh Ave. for browsing and book pickup and a temporary technology station at the Marion Columbus Club, 5650 Kacena Ave.

The new library still is on schedule, interim director James Teahen said. The anticipated completion date is January 2022, with the opening taking place in March.

“As of last week, all interior floors are in place, interior stud walls have started on the second floor, 95 percent of the exterior framing is complete and brick work has started on the exterior east walls,” Teahen said.

The new library will cost an estimated $18 million and will be located in the 1100 block of Sixth Avenue, across the street from the old library, which was closed after the derecho in August.

The facility will be paid for through the $3.3 million capital campaign, $5 million in local-option sales tax funding, $3 million in property damage insurance and the sale of the current site, $6 million in bonding and $1 million in tax increment financing.

As of Monday, $2,807,706 has been raised toward the campaign’s $3.3 million goal, Teahen said.

When he starts, Carroll will be the fourth director in the last five years as the library previously struggled with changing plans to find a location for the new library.

Last November, director Hollie Trenary was fired without public explanation.

In 2016, former director Doug Raber retired after five years.

In 2017, Elsworth Carman was hired as director but took a job as the city’s director of administrative services before leaving to be Iowa City’s library director in 2018.

Trenary, who began that same year, previously was operations manager for the Cedar Rapids Public Library and oversaw the design for the new 50,000-square-foot library.

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