The Buena Vista board of trustees voted Tuesday night to place an item on the April ballot to cease running public notices in The Chaffee County Times. The idea has been promoted as a way for the town to save money, running only titles and summaries with a reference to the town’s website archive.
We strongly believe this proposed ballot issue does not serve the public’s best interests or its right to know, and as the press is the public’s guardian, The Times intends to strongly oppose this issue.
Yes, The Times does benefit from printing public notices, but this issue goes well beyond the dollars the town spends publishing these notices. It is a very small percentage of our revenue stream and a minuscule percentage of the town’s budget.
Over the past 5 years (not counting the first 2 months of 2014), the town has spent an average of $3,790 per year publishing public notices – or .0004 percent of the 2014 budget of $8.8 million.
One example the town administrator gave was the cost – $912 – of printing one ordinance. The Telecommunications Facilities ordinance was a very lengthy one – it took up three pages in print – and was much longer than the typical notice to the public. This was very much the exception to the norm. Most public notice bills over the last 5 years have run in the $20-50 range. For this reason, we think this was a poor example for the board to consider.
It is our opinion that the current management team running day-to-day operations for the town is the best one in many years, and we have been told as much by many residents and businesses.
The issue is trust in government - not necessarily the current administration - but the one 5, 10, 20 years down the road. Given Buena Vista’s track record of high turnover, we believe there is reason for concern.
If public notices are not printed and archived, what is to keep someone from changing one on the town’s website to accommodate a particular developer or business?
We’re not so much concerned about next week or next month as we are years after this board’s tenure of public service has ended.
If it’s printed in the newspaper, it can’t be changed in the dark. If it’s printed in the newspaper, it is a permanent public record.
We believe in transparency in government – residents both expect and deserve this – and the press being the archived keepers of public records helps ensure this.
There are many important issues facing the town, its growth and prosperity, its future. We strongly encourages the board to address those issues and not let the issue of publishing public notices become a distraction.
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