Susan Lynn, editor and publisher of the Register, asked Allen County commissioners to reconsider their designation of the Humboldt Union as the official county newspaper, a role the Register has filled for decades.
Commissioners made the switch a week ago on a year-to-year formula that would have the Register as the county’s newspaper of record in 2013.
Lynn fortified her request with figures showing it would be less expensive to have legal notices published in the Register. Also, she noted the Register’s circulation of 3,650 was six times that of the Union, that the Iola newspaper was published five days a week to the Union’s one and that the Register has an active website.
Through aid of a Union rate card given to commissioners — Cliff Ralstin, Union editor, declined to name his rates when asked — Lynn showed graphically the Register’s per-inch rate was a savings compared to the Union’s per-line charges. A tipping point was that the Register prints legal notices in 8-point type, 20 percent smaller than the Union’s 10-point size.
A legal notice in Saturday’s Register of the Aug. 7 primary was used as an illustration. The Register’s charge was $333.90 for the required three publications; the Union’s would have been $405.
Lynn also stressed county business would be more transparent in the Register because of its wider and more frequent circulation. The Union’s reach is about 600 once a week.
The Register’s website, iolaregister.com, also is a plus, she said.
The Union does not have a website — Ralstin said one was coming soon — but does post its newspaper in a PDF format on a Kansas Press Association website, which now is accessible from the county’s website, said County Clerk Sherrie Riebel.
Lynn wondered why bids were not sought.
Because, Works said, commissioners don’t seek bids for professional services, such as engineers or architects, and “in fairness to both newspapers, I think both should have a shot” at being the paper of record.
“I totally admire you wanting to be fair,” Lynn said, “but I think you also have to go with the best value.”
Works said he and Commissioner Francis based their decision on a once-a-year budget affidavit for the communities of Mildred and Humboldt published in the Register and the Union, respectively. The rates differed by almost double.
The price difference accounts for the documents being published as display ads. The Register’s display ad rates are determined by the number of subscribers it has, Lynn said.
“The more ‘eyes’ on a publication, the higher its value,” she said.
The vast majority of county notices are not in a display ad format, but as text.
