Our View: Published notices are democracy 101

Many of the local school districts, cities and the county itself are taking care of business now at their annual meetings, when the various elected officials choose their leaders for the year, set meeting dates, and also designate official banks and law firms, and take care of other administrative details. It’s an annual chore, guided by state law.

Most of these bodies also choose an official newspaper in which their legal notices and meeting minutes must be published. It’s an open bidding process and, by state statute, the elected officials must follow a certain priority: first favoring papers with a main office in their jurisdiction, then secondary offices in the jurisdiction and so on.

Legal ads are a mainstay in local newspapers, which publish legal notices such as court summonses, meeting notices, bids, foreclosures, government meeting minutes, new laws, delinquent taxes and more. The idea is to make sure that the public knows what is going on in the government, and that the people know where, exactly, to look for such notices. The statute favors local newspapers, for obvious reasons. We don’t have a need to know about public notices affecting Fargo, and the good people of Fargo don’t need notice of our meetings.

There are several newspapers covering parts of Carlton County, but only the Pine Knot News and the Moose Lake Star Gazette have offices in Carlton County. The statute governing legal ads states a preference for newspapers that have a local office: that’s meant to increase accountability. It also supports the local businesses that are a part of the community.

Of course, there are cheaper ways to publish legal notices. Most often, it’s suggested that legal notices can be published on a government website, which would save money.

But saving money isn’t always the best option. Legal ads published in the local paper and on their online sites provide much greater notice to the public (whom the government serves, by the way) than such notices buried on some government web page. Nor can anyone discreetly alter a legal ad published in a newspaper after the fact.

Of course, we also appreciate the revenue, which allows us to cover the news of the very government entities for which we publish legal ads.

We are pleased that so many local government entities chose the Pine Knot News as their official newspaper this year. We take that responsibility very seriously. And we appreciate local government

supporting local business.

We welcome your input to the Pine Knot News community newspaper. Send your thoughts, letters, or news to [email protected].