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Home My WebLink About15.F.1. Designation of Official Newspaper IS: P: I. CITY OF SHAKOPEE Memorandum COi~SEr\~T TO: Mayor and City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: Judith S. Cox, City Clerk SUBJECT: Designation of Official Newspaper DATE: January 2, 2003 INTRODUCTION: City Council is asked to designate the official newspaper for 2003. 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 Mr. Rolfsrud asking that the City consider appointing the Shakopee Valley News as its official newspaper. The 2003 charge for legal notices will be $10.63 per column inch. Previous years charges for legal notices were: 2002- $1 O.23/column inch for 1 st insertion 2001 - $9.75/column inch for 1 st insertion 2000 - $9.25/column inch for 1 st insertion 1999 - $8.78/column inch for 1 st insertion Designation of Official Newspaper January 2, 2003 Page -2- 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 2003 charge for legal notices submitted in this manner will be $9.03 per column inch, reflecting a 15% cost savings to the City. The City has budgeted $20,000 for 2003 for legal publications. 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 "In Brief' section as well as press releases. They have also written articles on matters when requested to get the word out. ALTERNATIVES: 1. Designate the Shakopee Valley News as the City's official newspaper. 2. Obtain quotes from other newspapers that may qualify as an official newspaper. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends alternative #1. Residents of the City are more likely to look for legal notices pertaining to their community in a local publication. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Move to designate the Shakopee Valley News as the official newspaper for the City of Shakopee for the year 2003. i:c1erk\judy\SVN-OFFi Shakopee Valley News December 19, 2002 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 newspaper for the City of Shakopee in 2003. Legal notices published in the Shakopee Valley News during this time period wiII be biIIed at the rate of$10.63 per column inch for the first insertion arid $8.00 per column inch per subsequent insertions. The city can again take advantage of a lower rate if it submits legal notice copy electronically via e-mail. Publication copy must be submitted in a generic text format and readable by our ffiM compatible word processors. This system worked well in past years and allows for a substantial labor savings if the Shakopee Valley News staff does not have to retype the notices prior to them being published in the newspaper. E-mailed legals should be sent to: legal@swpub.com. The rate for the materials submitted in this manner would be $9.03 per column inch, reflect- ing a 15% cost savings to the City of Shakopee. Most standard legal notices (those without maps, graphics or special tabular information) submitted by the City of Shakopee wiII 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. In accordance with Minnesota Statute 331A.02, the Shakopee Valley News has met certain qualifications in order to become a legal newspaper to better serve the community. Some of the qualifications we must meet to become a legal newspaper include: distribution of 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 resi- dents; have its known office of issue established either in the county in.:.vhich is lies in whole or in part, the local publk corporation which the nt:wi:1J3rer p~lrp0rts t:J serve, or in an adjoining county; file a copy of each issue immediately with the state historical society; etc. These are just a few of the stringent guidelines a newspaper must fulfill in order to become a certified legal newspaper. It is our goal to serve you as your legal newspaper for the coming year. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service to you in the past. We hope that relationship can be continued in the roTf)= / I /\ iRes FC ft1~)Y, ,,/" ) f"l J '~/~ ; i / ! I I .. .' ! : / I ~ / .!' ~tajR6Ifsk;d ~lr~her enclosure 327 Marschall Road, Suite 125 · Post Office Box 8. Shakopee, Minnesota 55379 · (952) 445-3333 INFORMATION FOR GOVERNMENTAL BODIES AND INDIVIDUALS USING THE LEGAL NOTICES SECTION OF THE SHAKOPEE VALLEY NEWS Deadlines Notices to be published must be received in the office of the Shakopee Valley News by 4 p.m. on Thursday preceding each publication date. This deadline must be observed to ensure accurate and timely publication of important notices. We will not accept faxed notices as legal documents, as these copies are often unreadable. All hard copy notices should be clean and typed. Legal notices can be e-mailed to the following: legal@swpub.com. Questions should be directed to our legal department, 952-445-3333. Affidavits One sworn affidavit of publication will be provided, upon request, without charge for each legal notice. Addi- tional affidavits are available at $3.50 each. Additional clippings are available for $1.00 each. Late Fee Urgent legal notices which do not arrive at the Shakopee Valley News office before the specified deadline may be accepted, at the publisher's discretion, but will have a late fee or surcharge of 25 percent added for special handling. Publication Requirements Most specifications for legal notice publication, including the number of times a notice is to run, are set forth by statute. Interpretation of the statutes is the responsibility of the customer and its legal counsel, not the publisher. Kill Fee Publication of scheduled notices may be stopped, depending on how far the printing process has advanced. If a legal notice is killed before the initial publication date, the customer may still be liable for a special typesetting fee. Errors Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors in typesetting or scheduling oflegal notices. In all cases, publisher's liability shall be limited to a "make good" of a defective notice if it can be demonstrated that the error was made by the publisher and that as a result of the error the legal notice was rendered invalid. The newspaper must be notified of any errors after the first week of publication. Adjustments will be limited to the first week of publication only. Rates Effective January 1, 1985, the Minnesota State Legislature authorized legal newspapers to charge for legal notices in the same manner in which they charge their best commercial display classified customers. That means that legal notices are billed by the column inch, not by the "legal line." The law also restricts rate increases exceeding 10 percent per annum. SHAKOPEE VALLEY NEWS RATE INFORMATION Lowest classified rate paid by commercial users ..... ..... ..................... ............................... .............. $21.00 ugal advertising, first insertion .................................... ........ ................................................ .......... $10.63 ugal advertising, subsequent insertions .............................. ................. ..................... ....... .............. $ 8.00