Public notices will live to see another day for both newspapers in Allen County. Commissioners agreed Tuesday morning to continue the publication of such notices in both The Humboldt Union and The Iola Register for the next two years.
“Between conversations of those I reached out to and those who reached out to me, I would like us to consider looking at continuing what we have been doing and reevaluate it every two years,” said Commissioner David Lee. He added that the two-year timeframe is out of fairness to both newspapers. “If you do it for one, you’ve got to do it for the other. That way we’re not putting one advantaged over the other.”
Public notices cover everything from ballot measures to rezoning requests and are a critical source of information for citizens.
Each year, the commission picks one of the two publications — The Iola Register or The Humboldt Union — to be deemed the “official newspaper” of the county. In recent years, the county has published public notices in both newspapers, regardless of which one is the official paper. At the Jan. 14 commission meeting, commissioners agreed to make the Union the county’s official newspaper. This led to the discussion of whether to continue publishing public notices in both newspapers.
Commissioner John Brocker noted Tuesday he has received several phone calls on the matter since the conversation began two weeks ago.
“I’ve heard from all areas, not just Iola,” he said. “I feel like we really should support both of them right now. I’ve had people who take the Humboldt newspaper contact me and say they definitely want it in the Iola paper as well. I was getting actual people out of Humboldt calling me and giving me that information.”
He then inquired about the legality of not publishing the notices county-wide.
“Legally, it’s pretty clear. If you publish it in the official paper, that’s all you have to do,” responded County Counselor Bob Johnson.
Lee noted there is a caveat to his recommendation and that is for the county to focus on developing its digital presence during this two-year period. This would include improving the county’s website.
“Leave it as it is for two years — reevaluate in year two,” he reiterated. “And during this timeframe, we look at cleaning up our Facebook and our media presence.”
Lee said he spoke with approximately 20 people on the public notice issue and a big concern was how it could affect the Union negatively.
“It might put a major squeeze on The Humboldt Union,” he said. “After two years, we either go for another two years or whatever we’re ready to do at that point in time.”
Acknowledging his support of Lee’s suggestion, Daniels added, “I was here in 2016 when we decided to publish in both, with additional cost, to try to reach the most constituents. It’s the right thing to do.”
However, Daniels said that the issue needs to be put into perspective. He said that discussions pertaining to saving tax dollars will continue to take place weekly over the next few months, leading up to budget decisions.
“I’m OK with publishing in both, but it’s a $20,000 decision,” he noted. “There’ve been a few letters to the editor and emails, and I appreciate those. It’s a little concerning, though, that it’s being stated that it’s only 0.2% of the county’s budget. As we move forward in budget discussions, those things add up.”
Daniels’s other concern is he believes it isn’t being seen as a service. “It’s a service to publish these notices,” he said. “We’re required to do it only in one newspaper, which we did before 2016.” He compared this to the consideration of bids. “It is the same as if we were to buy $75,000 worth of whistles from the low bid and the other company isn’t going to get a penny,” he explained. “It’s not fair to them, but we made a decision. It’s just concerning that a lot of the comments were, ‘You need to help fund The Iola Register.’ I think the perspective is that we’re purchasing a service. We’re trying to reach the most constituents and do what’s right. I think that should be the focus, not that it’s going to hurt either paper.”
