Surber Terminated as Waukee Public Library Director

Erik Surber was terminated Monday as the Waukee public library director, City Administrator Tim Moerman said Wednesday.

The reason for Surber’s departure has not been revealed. Moerman said that according to minutes of Monday's library board of trustees meeting, board members voted to terminate Surber.

Moerman said he was not involved in the discussions, but is not aware of Surber receiving a severance package.

The Waukee Public Library Board of Trustees, which oversees the library’s director, budget and policies, will meet at 1 p.m. today to discuss hiring an interim director.

Surber, an Ames native, began as the library director in September 2011. He previously served as the senior librarian of the North Hollywood Regional Library in Hollywood, CA, the Des Moines Register said.

Moerman said Surber's departure will have no effect on the plans for the Ori library addition. The city council rejected the most recent round of bids for the project, which saw six contractors bidding on the work. A low base bid of $539,000 was submitted by Lansink Construction of Johnston, according to city documents.

The 1,900-square-foot library expansion will include a meeting room and coal mining museum. The rejection of an earlier round of bids pushed back the opening until October, Patch earlier reported.

 who died in October 2010. He left a bequest to honor his parents, and those associated with the Shuler Mine, which employed many Waukee residents in the early 1900s.

Ori, 87 at the time of his death, left at least half a million dollars to the library in his will.

"They specified that we build a meeting room in honor of his parents," Library Director Eric Surber said in 2011. "I think he wanted to honor not only his parents, but also the immigrant community in general."

Surber said Ori and his family lived in Waukee and worked in the Shuler Mine, which operated in the first half of the 1900s. The money Ori willed to the library — expected to be between $500,000 and $700,000 — was designated as a way to honor his parents, Ernest and Casimira Ori, Italian immigrants who lived in Waukee until their deaths in 1974 and 1982, respectively.

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