King Band to move

It will leave library, may go to Municipal Building

The Karl L. King Municipal Band will be moving out of its home of some 25 years in the Fort Dodge Public Library because of upcoming renovations to that building.

The band has been offered space in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S., but the details of the potential move are still being resolved, according to Assistant City Manager Ryan Maehl.

"Obviously, moving and changing isn't something everyone likes," he said

Library Director Rita Schmidt said the band has been asked to move out of its room in the library by January with the expectation that renovations will begin in January or February.

The Webster County Genealogical Society, which occupies a room just down the hall from the band's quarters, was asked in June to move out because of the renovations and because it was struggling to maintain public access to its records. The society was given until Nov. 21 to move.

Schmidt said a wall will be removed so that the current children's storytime room can be expanded into the band’s room.

She said when 10 or more children, each accompanied by an adult, get in the current storytime room it gets very crowded. And that becomes problematic because storytime sessions now include some physical activity, she said.

"There's a lot more movement and a lot more getting up and participating," she said.

That room was "great when we built it," she said, but now it needs to be enlarged.

The genealogical society room will become a “sensory space" and an adult changing room, according to Schmidt. She said the public bathrooms in the library aren't big enough to accommodate an adult changing station.

Maehl said in the Municipal Building, the band would get office and display space on the second floor. He envisions display cases filled with band items in the second floor hall.

He said the band would have access to the City Council meeting room on the first floor for practices and pre-concert warm-ups. The band would also be offered document storage in a climate controlled and moisture-controlled area of the basement, he said.

While the band and the genealogical society will be moving, the Webster County Historical Society will be staying put in its library space, called the Roger Natte Archive in honor of the community's leading historian.

FEH Design, of Des Moines, is preparing the plans for the renovation.