Title: Parks & Recreation Director
Company: City of Bettendorf
Email: jbyrnes@bettendorf.org
Bio: John Byrnes has served as the Parks and Recreation Director for the City Bettendorf since January of 2025, following eight years in escalating roles in Sioux City, Iowa. He now oversees a rapidly growing park system, recreation programming, diverse sport facilities, a golf course, and project management.

In John’s first year in as the Parks and Recreation Director in the City of Bettendorf, he successfully completed or began construction on 11 projects at a cost of over $1.2 million. With emphasis on facility management, in John’s first year, Palmer Hills golf course operated in the black for the first time in three years and has positioned Bettendorf’s new outdoor ice rink to recover the highest percentage of operating costs in the history of the operation.

In John’s time in Sioux City, he led the opening of two new operations, Cone Park a $5,000,000 winter recreation facility, and the Siouxland Expo Center a $15,000,000 recreation and expo facility. He has worked in nearly every facet of Parks and Recreation from cemeteries and park maintenance to managing ice rinks and pools.

Title: Director
Company: Bettendorf Family Museum
Email: kkidwell@bettendorf.org
Bio: Kim is a graduate of Westfield State University in Westfield, Massachusetts with a degree in Communications. She has been the Director at the Family Museum since 2015. Kim began working for the City in 2003 as a Museum Educator, and became Manager of Learning Experiences and Environments in 2011. Before entering the Museum world, Kim worked in the Bettendorf Public School system in Early Childhood Special Education classrooms at Mark Twain and Jefferson Elementary Schools.

Kim has been a Bettendorf resident since June of 2001. She grew up just outside of Boston Massachusetts and worked in television news for ten years at TV stations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Illinois. Kim is married to Local 4 News Sports Director Jay Kidwell. They have two adult children, Tyler and Emily.

Kim is certified in “Mind in the Making” which is a program that teaches executive function skills to parents, teachers, and community members. Kim also holds a certificate in Non-Profit Leadership.

Title: Public Library Director
Company: City of Bettendorf
Email: jaschliman@bettendorf.org
Bio: Jillian Aschliman earned her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 and has proudly spent her entire library career working for Iowa public libraries. She is currently the Director of the Bettendorf Public Library and previously worked as the director of both the LeClaire Community Library and DeWitt Community Library. During her time in DeWitt, she oversaw a $5.7 million expansion and renovation of the facility which included a $3.7 million bond referendum that passed with an overwhelming 82% vote.



In her five and half years at BPL, she has helped the library adopt a fine free policy, launched a library app and an award-winning website, successfully re-organized the staffing structure of the department with a 100% staff retention rate, added an industrial-grade laser engraver into the library's makerspace, and this fall she looks forward to the launch of the library's newest service: the BettConnect Outreach Vehicle!



Jillian has served on the board of the Bi-State Literacy Council and was elected to the Iowa Library Association Board in 2024. In 2026, she was elected as Vice President and will be stepping into the role as ILA President in 2027, where she looks forward to promoting the positive impact libraries of all types provide to Iowa schools and communities across the state.