Mid-Columbia (WA) Libraries Director Fired

The executive director of Mid-Columbia Libraries was dismissed from her $110,000-a-year-job Monday night following an executive session with the board.

Gloria Garcia, board chairwoman, said the decision to end Danielle Krol’s employment was difficult but the best thing for the library district.

“(She) was dismissed immediately, without cause, as allowed by her contract,” Garcia said Tuesday in a phone interview.

Krol, 60, who became executive director in 2004, was not available for comment.

Kyle Cox, the library’s administrative services director, was chosen by the board to be the “Mid-Columbia Libraries person in charge,” Garcia said, adding that he will not assume the title of interim executive director.

Prior to going into what became a 90-minute executive session, the board considered and approved a travel request from Krol, who asked to make a one-day side trip from attending the American Library Association Conference in Washington, D.C., in June to tour the award-winning public library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. Garcia said the firing made the planned trip unnecessary.

Krol’s predecessor, Phelps Shephard, had been the executive director for 10 years before also being fired for an undisclosed reason in September 2003. Several commentators apparently feel that the firing was overdue; read more in the Tri-City Herald.