NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Tribune founder and publisher Michael Glenn gave an articulate defense of the importance of legal notices in physical newspapers at the Hutchinson City Council meeting earlier this year.
"It's mainly just a call for government transparency, which has always been here in the state of Kansas," Glenn said. "It's constitutionally written. There's been legislation passed in the state of Kansas that requires legal notices to be printed in official city or county or even when it comes to our local school boards that they must be held accountable by printing what they're going to do or by printing other important topics that people should know about and putting them in public newspapers."
This is about making sure there is a record that people can find when they go to look for it in the coming years.
"More importantly, it's a place that is not controlled by said government," Glenn said. "This is a point that I spoke to the council about, it's essential to have a place where legal notices are published that is not controlled by the person publishing it. It's not a great look for those who are publishing it regardless of whether, you know, because since the city does create those legal notices that they do publish, it's just, it's not as polished as what someone is trying to look for and I'm trying to articulate that well. Having that, having a newspaper come in and publish those as a third party, as a non-governmental entity publishing these notices, it provides that third level of transparency that we look for."
Getting citizens involved in the process is key to government being functional.
"I understand that the city has been wanting to increase civic engagement with its citizens. Well, what's a better way to do that than put the legal notices of what you're trying to do right in front of their faces? Obviously the circulation of our hometown paper has gone down, but it's still important to have them printed for the thousands of people who still do read it."
The Kansas Press Association has a site where you can look up public notices. It's online at https://kansaspublicnotices.com/.