Ex-Arlington Heights library director gets job near St. Louis
Former Arlington Heights Memorial Library Executive Director Jason Kuhl, who left amid a cloud of controversy in September, will begin a new library director job later this month near St. Louis.
Starting Jan. 29, Kuhl will oversee the St. Charles City-County Library District, which has a dozen branch locations in suburban St. Louis. His hiring was approved Dec. 21 by library board members, who selected Kuhl from a pool of 23 applicants, according to a news release.
Citing "personal reasons," Kuhl resigned Sept. 25 after five years at the helm of the Arlington Heights library. He received a $73,589 severance and six months of health insurance as part of a separation agreement approved in October.
Ex-Deputy Director Jeremy Andrykowski, later fired by Acting Executive Director Mike Driskell, told the Daily Herald in October he thinks some library staff members' unhappiness with the direction of the library - including controversial programs, such as a canceled immigrants' rights seminar and multiyear restructuring of library departments - led to their departures.
Kuhl, who joined the Arlington Heights library as information services manager in 2008, started his career in 2000 as a Sunday librarian at a branch near St. Louis that he will now help oversee. The library district has a $19 million budget and 211 employees, compared to a $14 million budget and 240 employees in Arlington Heights.
Kuhl will be paid $139,468 plus benefits, whereas in Arlington Heights he was making $147,178 plus benefits.