From left is newly-hired Children’s Services Department Head Erin Streeter and Director Ann Zydek.

WARSAW — The Warsaw Community Public Library Board of Trustees made official what had been discussed in recent months regarding the age-old policy of fining patrons for overdue books and other materials.

In a unanimous decision, the board approved a new policy that took away late fees for items turned in past the due date.

Assistant Director Joni Brookins told the board that the new policy has caveats that protect the library in cases where materials would have to be purchased as replacements.

“If those items become lost, you still owe for them,” said Brookins. “We will waive any current fines on your record, but you’ve got to ask for it and you’ve got to show me ID and your library card.”

Brookins said the ability to check out library items will be suspended for patrons who owe printing charges or for those customers who have lost an item.

Occasionally, patrons check out items that are borrowed from another facility. In these cases, the “no fines” policy will not apply.

“The only thing we will charge fines for are inter-library loan items because basically that money, we have to pay back the library from which we borrowed the item,” Brookins said.

Brookins added that any money due to the library that cannot be forgiven, in amounts equalling or exceeding $25, will still be turned over to the library’s materials collection agency.

Brookins told the board that the panel should be ready to roll with any changes that might be deemed necessary as the new policy takes hold.

“As we live with this, we may find we need to make some adjustments or minor tweaks or changes to it because we don’t know,” she said. “There are some questions out there that we want to see how it goes.”

The board was introduced to recently-hired Children’s Services Department Head Erin Streeter.

The board also approved one-time cash payments to select library employees ranging from $456 to $1,200, based on hours worked per week. The money was part of a surplus left over from the annual budget, according to Business Manager Renee Sweeny.

“We had two full-time positions that were vacated that we didn’t fill,” said Sweeny. She cited several other payroll-related issues that created the cash build up of about $50,000, $35,000 of which was suggested to go to employees, with the exception of Director Ann Zydek.