Franklin trustees discuss eliminating children’s fines; decide to defer formal action

The Franklin Public Library Board discussed proposals to eliminate fines for children’s materials on Aug. 25 and instructed staff to return with a combined proposal and financial plan for action at the next meeting. Board members debated whether to move forward immediately on a children’s fine-free policy and how to offset projected lost revenue. The conversation included an explicit suggestion to discontinue the library’s Hoopla digital service and redirect those funds toward eliminating children’s fines, but trustees noted Hoopla was not on the agenda and could not be decided that night. Board member (name not specified in the transcript) moved to discontinue Hoopla and use the proceeds to offset killing children’s fines; that motion was ruled out of order for the evening because Hoopla was not an agenda item. Trustees instead discussed several offset ideas — donations jars, fundraising through the FPL Foundation, and using savings from digital services — and asked staff to gather financial data. “If we do something like that, Jennifer… is that feasible?” a trustee asked Jennifer; she said staff could model options but would need time to compile numbers. After discussion about timing and budget implications, the board voted to table the fine-free item until the September meeting, asking staff to include both the fine policy proposal and specific funding/offset options (for example, Hoopla subscription changes) on the agenda so trustees can take combined action. Next steps: staff will prepare a financial impact assessment and draft policy language on eliminating children’s fines and will place Hoopla and funding-offset options on the September agenda for possible action.