By Pat Jenkins
The Dispatch
Pierce County Council members have chosen a single newspaper as the primary publisher of the county government's legal notices, but they also want to try to spread some notices around to more than one newspaper if that helps reach citizens who might want the information.
The council voted April 4 to award a 12-month contract to the Tacoma News Tribune for publishing notices about public hearings, legislation, actions involving land-use matters, calls for bids, and other county proceedings for which official publication is required.
The contract is for July 1 this year through June 30, 2018. Total payments to the News Tribune will be capped at $100,000.
The News Tribune received the contract because it has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the county and publishes editions seven days a week, meaning it can provide the widest audience for notices countywide, according to the council.
Notices may also be published in other newspapers to help spread the word in communities where the News Tribune might not have high circulation. For instance, the county has done that in some instances with The Dispatch, which circulates in south Pierce County.
"We can have notices in other papers when we know an issue affects their area the most," said Councilman Derek Young.
That doesn't satisfy Councilwoman Pam Roach. She questioned the breadth of the News Tribune's readership outside of Tacoma and said areas where it might be lightly read would be underserved.
Roach, the only council member who voted against awarding the contract to the News Tribune, said it's "a liberal paper" that has "liberal readers in downtown Tacoma" but is short on readership in suburban and rural parts of the county. That limits the ability of legal notices to reach residents in those areas, she said.
During the bidding process for the legals contract, the News Tribune told the county its circulation is 60,270 a day Monday through Friday and 120,000-plus on Sunday.
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