T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY The Iowa Valley Community College District board of directors moved forward with plans to sell the Orpheum Theater property to the Marshalltown Community School District during Wednesday night’s monthly meeting.

GRINNELL — The Iowa Valley Community College District board of directors moved one step closer to selling the Orpheum Theater to the Marshalltown Community School District during a regular meeting held at IVCCD’s Grinnell campus on Wednesday afternoon.

After a brief public hearing with no comments, Jacque Goodman, the district’s vice president of education and training, brought the board up to speed on the latest developments with the building located at 220 and 226 E. Main St. in Marshalltown, which is still being leased and used for court proceedings until the Marshall County Courthouse is reopened. Goodman said the current projection is that the court system will be done using the theater by October.

According to Goodman, while a few contracts remain to be negotiated and a few logistics remain to be sorted out, both the court system and the school district have been great partners to work with throughout the process.

“Other than that, if I had some champagne, I would probably pop it,” she said. “The school district has a wonderful vision, and I know they can’t wait to take it over. So it’s a win-win. It’s been a great partnership. We’ve been working very well together.”

If all goes according to plan, the school district will officially take ownership of the property in January 2023. Goodman did also note that the Marshall County Arts and Culture Alliance is moving forward on a mural project outside of the Orpheum, and IVCCD would likely need to sign that contract because it will start before ownership is transferred. The board voted unanimously to approve the contract and conveyance agreement, and the plan is to sell it for a nominal amount of one dollar.

Later in the meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve the substantial completion of interior renovations on the MCC campus after errors were corrected in the esports lab. IVCCD President Kristie Fisher called the result of the project “beautiful” but also said it was a “beast” at times.

“Everybody will be happy to be done with this one,” she said.

Before the board approved the consent agenda, special mention was made of a gift from Denise Barr and Bruce Frederick of one of their father Ray Frederick’s art pieces. Frederick was a longtime art professor at MCC.

At the beginning of the meeting, MCC Provost Robin Lilienthal discussed a job program created for international students in partnership with the Marshalltown Central Business District and said it has been a huge success so far.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a revised base bid of $5,099,000 from Henkel Construction of Mason City for the Thompson Hall renovation on the Ellsworth campus.

• Approved a memorandum of understanding with the MCSD for the Teacher/Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Program.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.