Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw Community Public Library Board of Trustees provided an explanation for the library's July 6 closure at a board meeting on Monday, July 13.
Board President Chris Merrill stated a wire for the library's chiller became rubbed open, short-circuiting the entire chiller. The discovery was made after the library was closed on July 3 and 4 for the Fourth of July weekend.
"The whole library was not air-conditioned for the July Fourth weekend," said Merrill. "We came in Monday (July 6), it was 80-some degrees in here. The servers were pushing over 92 (degrees). So, to save the hardware, we had to shut down the servers, which means that Warsaw staff couldn't do their jobs and we had to close the library ... it goes to show it's weird problems, wear and tear."
Merrill said the library was very lucky and could have been facing a two-week closure.
"We were worried that we had lost the major HVAC unit and the immediate prospect was, 'Oh we're going to be down for two weeks to get a new one of those in here,'" said Merrill. "That pretty much puts us in emergency territory."
Tied into that, Board Treasurer Ben Rice, who also serves on the board's renovation committee, provided an update on identifying and prioritizing urgent needs for the library. The committee, alongside Facilities Manager Jim Price, met on July 1. Identified urgent needs include the dry sprinkler system, air conditioner for the server room, chiller, building management system and the parking lot.
"We wanted to start taking more action, emboldened by community fundraising efforts that led to impactful donations in the library capital improvement fund," said Rice.
Since WCPL was denied their request for additional appropriations for bonds for building repairs in May by the Warsaw Common Council, over $72,000 has been raised within the capital improvement fund.
Rice said no action was being taken at this time but that the committee is currently proposing moving forward with replacing both the dry sprinkler system, and the AC in the server room.
"We're able to do these two top priority projects by using existing operating funds from budget line, repairs and maintenance, and also using the $100,000 appropriated in 2026, rainy day fund budget," said Rice.
The library is working with SRKM Architecture to pursue sealed bids and engineering for the projects, with start dates dependent on the completion of the bid process.
The board's next meeting is at 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10.
