NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of Reno County Commissioners tabled the choice of a new county newspaper to a future meeting at their meeting on Wednesday. There are ongoing questions regarding the legal status of the Rural Messenger and its status with the Postal Service.
"When the RFP was returned, the Rural Messenger's status with the U.S. Postal Service was they had an application pending," said County Counselor Patrick Hoffman. "They were optimistic that by this point, they would have a determination by the U.S. Postal Service that approved their standing as a periodical, but as of today, they don't have that yet. I would suggest at the very least, tabling the whole issue until it's determined by the Postal Service whether or not they are a periodical."
Nancy Stucky with the Ninnescah Valley News raised questions about the overall process, after the commission allowed the Rural Messenger to match her price, which is not how they normally handle requests for proposal.
"In May, I submitted, in good faith, my response to the RFP," Stucky said. "I didn't have to change my address, and I didn't have to lower my advertising rates. I don't understand why the Rural Messenger was allowed to do that. They shouldn't have even been considered, since their response to the RFP didn't qualify."
Commissioners understood Stucky's point, and furthermore, chair Daniel Friesen raised the question of why counties have to have a designated newspaper at all, since cities are able to opt out of that through home rule statute.
"Frankly, I think we would all agree we don't need to publish in a print paper anymore," Friesen said. "The circulation on any of them is too low to really be effective. It's available online and people have public access to the internet if they don't have it at home."
The issue will come back at a future meeting, though, as the Kansas Association of Counties has not yet been successful in changing the statute to allow for counties to opt out of having a paper.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.