Keep legal ad dollars local

Posted

At a time when hundreds of local people are being laid off and dozens of local businesses are closed, on March 16 the Jefferson County Commissioners voted 2-1 to shift public-notice advertising away from the Jefferson County-only Leader and into the Peninsula Daily News. The 12-month contract affects about $30,000 in county dollars and could prompt other local government entities to follow suit.

I urge them not to.

Jefferson County needs its locally based print and web communications now more than ever before. The Leader supports 15 local families working to make sure timely and accurate information gets out. It’s doing this during the crisis and needs to be positioned to rebound after it’s over.

The BOCC’s decision also makes it harder for Jefferson County residents to keep abreast of county plans and decisions via public notices. The printed Leader reaches almost 6,000 households. The printed PDN reaches somewhere between 1,500 and 2,100 households in this county. (Some 80 percent of PDN readers live in Clallam, not Jefferson.) The Leader reaches three times more county residents.

The commissioners’ decision means that about 5,000 Leader-only households will no longer see the public notice announcements county officials are required to post.

The BOCC’s discussion focused on the lower price bid presented by the PDN. But the Leader’s bid, even though higher in gross dollars, is much lower in the cost per Jefferson County resident who would see public notices. That should be the financial standard by which low bids are considered.

While it’s not part of the bidding process, consideration for a local business with many employees is also important in these times. Those dollars now being shifted to Clallam County and the corporate parent of the PDN come from Jefferson County taxpayers. They should stay here.

Commissioners David Sullivan and Greg Brotherton voted to make the change. Commissioner Kate Dean opposed it, and she deserves our thanks. Maybe the BOCC can reconsider, I don’t know. It should.

But for the rest of you–school districts, the port, the hospital district, the PUD, the City of Port Townsend–please do not follow the lead of the county commissioners. Support locally based businesses and local families. Use the Leader to fulfill your promise of public transparency to more of your constituents.

Scott Wilson
Port Townsend