Area newspapers to vie for official spot

By Dan DuChene
Jan. 8, 2009    ·    3:24 a.m.

Ypsilanti area newspapers have until the end of next week to submit their bids to become the city’s official newspaper of record.

Requests for proposals were sent out by city officials on Dec. 22 and the spot was advertised in the Ann Arbor News, the city’s current newspaper of record, on Dec. 28. The papers must submit their bids to the City Clerk’s Office by 3 p.m. Jan. 16.

“We mailed everything out before the holiday break,” said Ed Golembiewski, Ypsilanti deputy city clerk.

Once responses are submitted, Golembiewski said staff will review the information and make a recommendation to City Council for approval. He said there is no time frame as to when the recommendation will be made after the deadline.

Requests were mailed out to the Ann Arbor News, the Ypsilanti Courier and the Ypsilanti Citizen. Golembiewski said other interested parties can obtain an RFP from the city’s citizen services Web site.

The Citizen does not intend to put itself in the running for the position. Golembiewski said the city had not yet received any responses to the RFP.

City Council had unanimously selected the News as the paper of record at its organizational meeting in November. However, because no formal bid process was done, City Manager Ed Koryzno recommended the action.

“It’s in the spirit of transparency of government,” Koryzno said.

The city’s newspaper of record is the publication the city uses to publish announcements and legal notices. State law and the city charter both require the city to publish certain information to inform the public.

The News has been Ypsilanti’s official newspaper of record since 2005, before that it had been the Ypsilanti Courier. A paper is chosen by City Council at every organizational meeting, which is held the first meeting after a general election.

It was a complaint from Courier Editor Austen Smith that alerted Koryzno to the slip up. City Clerk Frances McMullan said Smith had submitted information to the city during the summer regarding ad rates and circulation, but that information never made it to City Council before they chose the News.

The RFP asks papers to supply the city with legal, retail and classified commercial rate information as well as paid subscribers and delivery figures. The request also asks for steps required to place and ad and also requests “discounted rates.”

The Courier is a weekly publication from Southgate-based Heritage Newspapers. The News is a daily publication from Grand Rapids-based Booth Newspapers.

Both papers have seen shrinking or relocating staff and downsizing in the wake of current trends inside the newspaper industry. Both papers used to have offices downtown, but the News staff now works out of Ann Arbor and the Courier staff now work out of Belleville.

The Citizen was launched in November, and is owned by Ypsilanti-based MoJo News Group. They do not have any physical location and do not publish any print-based media.

City Attorney John Barr said that while state and city law do require publication for ordinances, the city is not required to select an official newspaper of record.

The city charter states, “…and shall publish the ordinance together with a notice setting out the time and place for a public hearing thereon and for its consideration by the Council.” It goes on to say, “As soon as practicable after adoption, the City Clerk shall have the ordinance and a notice of its adoption published and available.”

Finally, the charter states, “As used in this Section, the term "publish" means to print in one or more newspapers or equivalent media of general circulation in the City.”

The State of Michigan defines a qualified newspaper as having general circulation with a paid subscription or in publication for at least one year.