HomeMy WebLinkAboutDISCUSSION re Bid Award Official County Newspaper Regular Agenda
Commissioners Office
JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO: Board of County Commissioners
FROM: Carolyn Gallaway, Clerk of the Board
DATE: March 16, 2026
SUBJECT: DISCUSSION and POTENTIAL ACTION: BID AWARD re: Official County
Newspaper—Publication of County Legal Notices
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
RCW 36.72.075 requires that the County call for bids for the Official County Newspaper each year and
approve a contract at the first meeting in April.
ANALYSIS:
A call for bids was published on January 12, 2026 which resulted in the submission of two bids. One was
received from the Peninsula Daily News and the other from the Port Townsend—Jefferson County Leader.
The two bids were opened and read aloud during the Board of County Commissioners' Regular meeting on
Monday, March 9, 2026. Attached is a memo detailing the two bids for consideration by the Board.
RECOMMENDATION:
Make a determination to award the bid for the Official County newspaper to either the Peninsula Daily News
or the Port Townsend—Jefferson County Leader so that a contract can be drafted for approval on or before
the first meeting in April, as required by RCW 36.72.075.
REVIEWED BY:
/1U13-6.
Jo D. Peters, County Administrator Date
�MINlj, Josh D. Peters
Ls _ s cod 1820 Jefferson Street
• O PO Box 1220
Port Townsend, WA 98368
O� Heather Dudley-Nollette,District 1 Heidi Eisenhour,District 2 Greg Brotherton,District 3
SHI NG'S
To: Board of County Commissioners
From: Josh D. Peters,County Administrator
Carolyn Gallaway, Clerk of the Board
Date: March 16,2026
Re: Bid Award -Official County Newspaper
On March 9, 2026 Clerk Gallaway read aloud two bids. Below is a comparison table of the two bids:
2026 BID ITEMS The Leader Peninsula Daily News
Font Helvetica Helvetica
Font Size 8.5 pt. 7.2 pt.
Cost per Column Inch $12.90 $8.75
Column Width in Inches 1.58 1.07
#of Columns per page 6 9
Published times/week 1 6
Wednesday Monday(online),
Tuesday-Saturday
(online and in print)
Number of days legal notices must be submitted 2 business days 2 business days
prior to publication date
Legal notices must be received by which method: Email Email, UPS
Time of day legal notices must be received 12:00 p.m. Mondays, 12:00 p.m.
and 12:00 p.m.
Friday if Monday is a
Federal Holiday
Other items included in Bid Price:
• County logo Yes Yes
• Location map w/specific notices Yes Yes
• 2 free subscriptions Yes Yes
• Online subscription code Yes-2 Yes-2
• All departments and offices are eligible to Yes Yes
submit Press Releases to the newspaper at
any time
Optional Items: Employment ads placed Jefferson County may
• General advertisements,or employment for County offices submit any number of
advertisements in a section of the published at a reduced press releases to be
newspaper other than the legal notice rate,$14,50 per column considered for
section.These advertisements will be inch,($7.00 discount) publication.Any non-
coordinated through the County and will include logos legal advertisement will
Commissioners Office. and/or QR codes be charged at$9.00 per
complimentary during column inch. Legal
contract term. notices appear on
peninsuladailynews.com
website,wnpa.com at no
additional charge
Phone (360) 385-9100 jdpeters@co.jefferson.wa.us
TOTAL PRINTED CIRCULATION The Leader Peninsula Daily News
Copies per Geographical Area: Deliveries/Newsstand Deliveries/Newsstand
98368-Port Townsend 2,589/1,314 456/85
98325-Chimacum 111 /170 31 /5
98339-Port Hadlock 201 /262 55/20
98365-Port Ludlow 339/85 74/15
98376-Quilcene 92/101 28/0
98382-Gardiner 39/195 1,614/167*
98320-Brinnon 36/29 13/0
98358-Nordland 119/25 26/0
98331 -Forks(West End) 1 /0 120/40
Subtotal 3,527/2,181* 2,417/332**
Totals: 5,708* 2,749**
of the total County population reached through 16.8% 8.1%
deliveries and newsstand
*Note from Leader: Note received:Our new subscription software does not include"on Hold"accounts
in Active subsections numbers.Accounts with Snow bird/Vacation holds
are not reflected in the numbers provided on our bid.
**Note from PDN:Gardiner has 1,614 deliveries, but they are unable to breakout further.
In 2023,they noted this was due to the Sequim zip code in that area.
ELECTRONIC CIRCULATION&READERSHIP The Leader Peninsula Daily News
Number of paid electronic subscriptions(not
included with paid print subscriptions above): 204 2,900
Newspaper's Website:
• Are legal notices posted on your website? Yes Yes
• If so,can they be viewed for free? Yes Yes
Newspaper's Website-Monthly Average:
• Number of hits 101,570 610,333
• Number of unique visitors 90,940 147,972
Legal Notices in particular-Monthly Average:
• Number of hits 672 402
• Number of unique visitors 601 134
Social Media: No Yes
• Are legal notices posted on social media?If Facebook:
so, please describe what social media,and 31,383 followers(1,600
any metrics on number of visits: new followers in 2025),
7.9M views,85,6K
content interaction
Instagram:
4,057 followers
230K views
3.1 content interactions
Do you also list your legal notices at:
https://www.wapublicnotices.com? Yes Yes
2
Please include with your bid:A proof and a quote for Sample#1: Sample#1:
two sample legal notices Cost to run once: Cost to run once:$241.50
$519.23 Sample#2:
Sample#2: Cost to run twice$83.00
Cost to run twice:
$122.56
Additional bid package items received: No other items No other items
In making a decision for bid award, the Board should consider the following:
• RCW 36.72.075 requires the contract to be awarded to the best and lowest responsible
bidder, giving consideration to the question of circulation in awarding the contract, with
a view to giving publication of notices to the widest publicity.
• RCW 36.72.075 requires that at its first April meeting, the County legislative authority
shall let a contract to a legal newspaper qualified under this section, to serve as the
Official County Newspaper for a term of one year beginning on the first day of July.
• The print circulation of the Leader in Jefferson County is a little over double than the
circulation of the Peninsula Daily News.
• In regards to print circulation, the Leader reaches approximately 16.8%of County
population and the Peninsula Daily News reaches 8.1% of the County population (2025
Population estimate is 34,000). Due to notes received from the Leader and the PDN
about circulation,these numbers may not be accurate.
• The Peninsula Daily News has greater electronic circulation and readership than the
Leader, although it is unknown what percentage of the metrics can be attributed to
Jefferson County.
During the March 16, 2026 Board of County Commissioner meeting, the Board will discuss the
two options for Official County newspaper. Once consensus is reached, the Board should
direct staff to prepare a Bid Award to either the Leader or the Peninsula Daily news, for
adoption on the Consent Agenda on or before April 6, 2026.
3