Dear state Rep. Sharon Tyler,

You are the co-sponsor of a bill that would make local governments less accountable to their citizens, potentially harm local businesses and trample on the public’s right to know.
As our community’s state representative, I hope you will reconsider.

House Bill 5848 is part of a package of six bills lobbied for by municipal clerks that would allow cities to post legal notices on their Web sites only, without the requirement that they also post those notices in local newspapers.

Cities are required to post legal notices in newspapers to alert residents about serious matters their local government is undertaking – matters such as new laws, changes to zoning laws, holding special meetings and elections, major construction projects and tax increases.

During our phone conversation on Wednesday, you said this was in part a cost-saving opportunity for local municipalities. Last year the City of Niles spent 0.009 percent of its $30 million budget on legal notices in this newspaper – that’s 9 cents of every $1,000 the city spent last year. For the record, the city spent more on baseball umpires for the parks and recreation department than it did on legal notices with the Star. The money the City of Niles spent on legal notices with the Star last year is also less than a quarter of the $12,000 you received from the state in the form of a travel and lodging stipend during that same period.

I agree that all governments need to save money. Local business owners and managers such as myself have also had to make difficult reductions because of the current recession. There is no doubt that there are reasonable and intelligent ways to save taxpayer money.

This is not one of them.

I believe that accountability and transparency have no price, especially such a small amount. I’m sure most of your constituents share in my disappointment that you believe they do.

This is not a new idea, but it’s still a bad one. Last year the Michigan communities of Wayne and Trenton asked voters whether those cities should be allowed to forego newspapers and post their legal notices on their web sites. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the idea, instead opting to keep public notification in tried and true print.

The public has a right to know about everything the local governments that they pay for and live under are doing. Any attempt to curtail this by limiting the public’s ability to become informed is not only contrary to the ideals of democracy, it’s dangerous. While I certainly hope and believe our local municipalities would not abuse a less-public notification system, the opportunity for abuse is there. When we are dealing with matters that affect property values, taxes, safety and jobs, the risk is too great.

Relying on the Internet alone to notify local residents is unfair to those who do not have access to the Internet – about 38 percent of homes in the United States. A public notice on a city Web site will also get far less visibility than they currently do in this paper, which has been the daily source for local news in our community for 123 years. Very few people visit the city’s Web site on a regular basis, and I would be surprised if more than a few could tell you the site’s URL.

Furthermore, current law requires proof of publication for all legal notices. Under a Web-only system, there is no proof of publication, and any Web-only system will have a hard time standing up to legal challenges in the future. Striking the proof of publication requirement from the law would only result in greater opportunities for abuse. An ink-on-paper, hard-copy notice published in an independent newspaper provides proof of publication that no closed-loop, government system can.

This bill will also indirectly harm local contractors who do business with our cities. Municipalities are required to advertise for bids for major construction projects in local newspapers – for example when new bridges need to be built, or new roads are going to be paved. While local small businesses have ready access to their local newspapers to keep tabs on requests for bids, a Web-only public notification system will increase the range from which companies will bid for the city’s business. In that situation, our local contractors will be no longer just competing with companies from 10 or 15 miles away, but will then have to also compete with contractors 50, 100 or 150 miles away.

I strongly urge you to reconsider your position on this bill. It is bad for the people of Michigan, plain and simple.

Until you do, I will be asking everyone I speak with to call your legislative office (888-373-0078) to voice their shared opposition to this bill.

Sincerely,
Bryan Clapper
Publisher
Niles Daily Star

Bryan Clapper is publisher of Leader Publications. He can be reached at 687-7700 or at bryan.clapper@leaderpub.com.