Clark County Board of Supervisors Discusses Printing Notices in County Newspapers
Thursday, April 18th, 2019 -- 1:11 PM
-The Clark County Board of Supervisors had a lengthy discussion regarding the printing of county documents in county newspapers.Back in October of last year, the Clark County Board of supervisors approved a resolution that rescinded the designation of an official newspaper in the county. The reason behind this is because the corporation counsel found an old resolution from 1972 that had the county designate 6 newspapers, one of which doesn’t exist anymore, as the official newspaper for the county. However, Clark County does currently have 6 newspapers that could be designated as official newspapers pursuant to state statute, which include the Tribune-Phonograph, Thorp Courier, TRG, O-W Enterprise, Clark County Press and Sentinel & Rural News. But, pursuant to state statute, Clark County has a population of less than 250,000, which means the county only has to designate one newspaper as an official newspaper, but they don’t even have to make that qualification. Clark County has the option of not having any official newspaper. During the October meeting, the board approved the resolution that allowed them to print agendas, minutes, employment ads, legal notices and other items in all of Clark County’s newspapers, as long as they had the appropriate certification with the clerk, and not have an official newspaper.
However, after reviewing the cost of printing all the items in those papers, it was determined that the county would spend over $130,000 on publications. This is over double what the county typically budgets for publications. At this point in 2019, they’ve already hit 40% of their budget for the year in publications. The resolution at Tuesday’s board meeting set the Clark County Press as the official newspaper for the county, as it has the highest circulation, and all county publications would be published in there. The county would then have the option to publish items in the other county newspapers. An amendment was proposed, and passed, with 19 voting yes/5 voting no/and 1 abstaining to publish all board agendas, minutes, and employment ads in all of the county’s papers. Each county department could then make a decision regarding which paper they what other publications to print, if any. The resolution passed with 19 voting yes, 5 voting no and 1 abstaining.
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