HomeMy WebLinkAbout5.F.7. Designation of Official Newspaper
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CITY OF SHAKO PEE
Memorandum
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TO:
Mayor and City Council
Mark McNeill, City Administrator
FROM: Judith S. Cox, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Designation of Official Newspaper
DATE: December 26,2007
INTRODUCTION:
City Council is asked to designate the official newspaper for 2008.
BACKGROUND:
The City is required by law to publish certain matters in its official newspaper, during the course of
the year. We publish the Council minutes (motions primarily), Ordinances, Resolutions when
required by law, notices of public hearings on planning matters and public improvement projects,
and advertisements for bids. It is appropriate that this designation be made at this time.
To be qualified as a medium of official and legal publication, a newspaper must meet certain
qualifications set forth by State law. To name a few, it must distribute the paper at least once a
week for 50 weeks out of the year; be circulated in the local public corporation which it purports to
serve, and either have at least 500 copies regularly delivered to paying subscribers, or have at least
500 copies regularly distributed without charge to local residents; have its known office of issue
established either in the county in which it lies in whole or in part, the local public corporation
which the newspaper purports to serve, or in an adjoining county; file a copy of each issue
immediately with the state historical society.
As long as I can remember, the Shakopee Valley News has been the City's official newspaper.
The City has received the attached letter from Mark Weber asking that the City consider appointing
the Shakopee Valley News as its official newspaper.
The 2008 charge for legal notices will be $11.98 per column inch. Previous years charges for legal
notices were:
2007 - $11.49/column inch for 151 insertion
2006 - $11.18/column inch for 151 insertion
2005 - $11.18/column inch for 151 insertion
During the middle of 1997, the City began submitting legal notice copies on floppy disk, which
resulted in a cost savings because the Shakopee Valley News staff did not have to retype the notices
for publication in the newspaper. In 1999 we began transmitting our legal notices bye-mail. The
2008 charge for legal notices submitted in this manner will be $7.27 per column inch, reflecting a
37% cost savings to the City. This is also the same rate charged for 2007,2006 and 2005.
The City has budgeted $24,700 for 2008 for legal publications for the City Clerk and Community
Development departments.
The City has had a very good working relationship with the Shakopee Valley News. They have
been very accommodating in publishing notices that were sent to them after their deadline and have
published them whenever possible. They have published items at no charge in their "Brief' section
as well as press releases. They have also written articles on matters when requested to get the word
out.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Move to designate the Shakopee Valley News as the official newspaper for the City of Shakopee
for the year 2008.
i:c1erk~udy\SVN-OFFi
Shako~lley News
December 13, 2007
Ms. Judy Cox, City Clerk
City of Shakopee
129 Holmes Street
Shakopee, MN 55379
Dear Ms. Cox,
Please consider our request for appointment of the Shakopee Valley News as the official newspa-
per for the city of Shakopee in 2008.
We recognize that financial challenges are being faced by most government bodies, and feel very
strongly that the publishing of legal notices in the newspaper is of vital importance to local resi-
dents who wish to stay informed about the decisions being made by your elected body. Conse-
quently, a per-inch rate of $7.27 is submitted for the coming year and remains the same as what
was charged for the past three years. We would stipulate that the city follow its normal procedure of
submitting legal notices in generic text format of as Microsoft Word documents via e-mail.
Legal notices requiring special handling will be billed at the rate of $11.98 per column inch for the
first insertion and $8.75 per column inch for subsequent insertions.
Notices submitted by the City of Shakopee will continue to be posted on our newspaper website,
www.shakopeenews.com. free of charge.
Our legal notice deadline is at 4 p.m. on Thursday, preceding the following week's publication date;
during holiday weeks the deadline may be advanced.
Thank you for the opportunity to be of service to you in the past. We hope that relationship can be
continued in the coming year.
Respectfully, ! I
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Mark Weber
General Manager
327 Marschall Road, Post Office Box 8, Shakopee, Minnesota 55379 . (952) 445-3333