The town of Bayfield has two ballot questions, 2D and 2E, that will ask voters in November’s election to approve publishing the town’s legal notices on the town’s website instead of in the
If approved by voters, the titles of the ordinances would be published in the newspaper, but the full text would be published only online.
The owners and staff of the Times are asking Bayfield residents to vote no.
“Legals in print is about ease and completeness of access,” said Richard Ballantine, chairman of the board of Ballantine Communications Inc., which has published the Times since 2014. “When you hold the paper, legals are right there in front of you to be scanned quickly, or slowly, to see if they’re of interest, and how important they are, such as marijuana sales and taxes.”
In a 7-0 vote, trustees for the town of Bayfield approved Resolution 412, which would allow the town to put the measure on the ballot, “substantially reducing the costs of publication.”
In June, Gov. John Hickenlooper vetoed Senate Bill 18-156, “Concerning the Publication of Fiscal Information by a County.” This would have relaxed the requirements for counties to publish financial reports in newspapers.
“While we recognize that laws must be updated with the times, until all communities have full online access, we should not force Coloradans to the internet to review public notices when some have no internet access to do so,” Hickenlooper wrote in a letter to the Senate, explaining his veto. “Until Colorado achieves full broadband access, we believe that SB 18-156 is ahead of its time.”
Publishing legal notices in newspapers also provides governmental agencies with legal proof that they actually did notify the public about the issue.
“Governments aren’t known for creating easy to use or understand websites,” Ballantine said. “It takes time, and if you don’t do it, you may have missed something important. Titles can’t fully convey a message; legals can often be detailed and complex. That’s my major argument for print, in addition to online notices.”
