HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Hutchinson City Council will consider at their meeting Tuesday whether or not to make the city's website the official publication for notices that are not specifically required by statute to be in a physical newspaper.
According to agenda documents, the Hutchinson News has experienced a significant reduction in its circulation for the publication.
The provisions in the Kansas Statutes requiring the naming of an official city newspaper are non-uniform and subject to amendment by a charter ordinance. A number of cities have chartered out from K.S.A. 64-101 et seq, and named the city’s website as its official city newspaper.
A list has been provided of the publications which must appear in the official city newspaper and other publications which must be continued to be in a newspaper by statute.
A following ordinance would need to be approved by the governing body after a charter ordinance has been approved, then published for two consecutive weeks and then 61 days will have to have expired from the last publication without a sufficient petition for referendum being filed.
According to City Attorney Paul Brown, advantages to naming the City’s website as the official city newspaper are as follows:
1. Immediate and timely publications.
2. Entire ordinances, resolutions and other public notices will appear without summaries.
3. The publications will appear on the City’s existing website without additional cost.
4. The citizens have the ability to request notices by email of new publications appearing on the website.
The Hutchinson City Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.