Politics & Government
Where Do You Read Ledyard's Public Notices?
If this bill passes, Ledyard can save lots of money by printing their legal notices online.
State Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) made a special guest appearance at Wednesday’s Town Council meeting to speak about a number of issues. In this video she speaks on behalf of SB-902, an act To reduce costly newspaper public notice requirements for municipalities.
Osten said that if the measure is adopted, municipalities will only have to submit a short description of required public notices and simply direct readers to the town’s website for the full notice. Also, the act would permit the Town to print legal notices to a weekly publication distributed in that town (rather than a daily), which could provide a more competitive price.
Legal notices are often lengthy and the Town of Ledyard spends approximately $25,000 on public notices a year; that cost would be reduced significantly if it is allowed to only print a few lines about the meeting. Obviously, newspapers will miss the revenue from those long legal notices and are opposed to the bill.
Apparently this proposal has been kicking around for quite some time. I found an old ad coming out against the proposal published in the Connecticut Daily News website, which makes reference to Gov. Jodi Rell, who served Connecticut from 2004 to 2011.
According to the ad (paid for by the Connecticut Daily Newspapers Association), “public notices are an important tool in ensuring an informed citizenry. They have helped develop America into a participatory democracy for hundreds of years and where it counts the most: how your tax dollars are spent, how policy is made and how our futures are charted.” The ad goes to to say that fewer people visit town websites than read the paper and that paper provides a permanent and archived record.
Public notices are an essential tool, best described on the Hartford Courant’s public notices section: “The publishing of public notices and announcements in newspapers protects the rights of people in a democracy to know about opportunities and decisions being made that can improve their involvement in their state and community.”
What do you think? Is the measure good or bad for local government? How do you find out about public meetings?
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