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Home My WebLink AboutDiscussion re Bid Award County Paper 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 13, 2023 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION and POTENTIAL ACTION: BID AWARD re: Official County Newspaper 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 18, 2023 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 6, 2023. 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: Mark McCaul , County Administrator Date P oM[ is , Mark McCauley s c0G�A� 1820 Jefferson Street O O PO Box 1220 Port Townsend, WA 98368 is II NG'S Kate Dean, District 1 Heidi Eisenhour,District 2 Greg Brotherton,District 3 To: Board of County Commissioners From: Mark McCauley,County Administrator Carolyn Gallaway, Clerk of the Board Date: March 13, 2023 Re: Bid Award -Official County Newspaper On March 6, 2023 Clerk of the Board Carolyn Gallaway read aloud two bids received regarding the Official County Newspaper. Below is a comparison table of the two bids: 2023 BID ITEMS The Leader Peninsula Daily News Font Helvetica Helvetica Font Size 7 pt. T2 pt. Cost per Column Inch $8.50 $3.00 Column Width in Inches 1.58 1.07 #of Columns per page 6 9 Published times/week 1 —Wednesday 6—Monday (online), Tuesday- Saturday online and inprint) Number of days legal notices must be submitted 2 days 3 business days prior to publication date Legal notices must be received by which method: Email Email, Fax, UPS Time of day legal notices must be received 1 pm Monday 2pm 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 Yes • All departments and offices are eligible to Yes Yes submit Press Releases to the newspaper at any time Optional Items: Employment ads will be Jefferson County may • General advertisements, or employment published in the submit any number of advertisements in a section of the Classified section at a press releases to be newspaper other than the legal notice rate of$13 per column considered for section. These advertisements will be inch, a discount of publication. Any non- coordinated through the County $5.50 per column inch. legal advertisement will Commissioners Office. Additionally, they will be charged at$8.00 per be published, at no column inch. Legal extra cost, with a black notices appear on border around the ad to peninsuladailynews.com and draw extra attention. our statewide association's website, wnpa.com at no additional charge TOTAL PRINTED CIRCULATION The Leader Peninsula Daily News Phone (360) 385-9100 Fax (360) 385-9382 mmccauley@co.jefferson.vva.us Copies per Geographical Area: Deliveries/ Newsstand Deliveries/ Newsstand 98368— Port Townsend 2,222/1,651 546/140 98325—Chimacum 107/190 41/10 98339— Port Hadlock 210/305 63/29 98365— Port Ludlow 377/75 98/18 98376—Quilcene 98/55 38/9 98320— Brinnon 32/60 20/16 98382—Gardiner 20/26 0/0* 98358— Nordland 111/0 33/0 98331 —Forks (West End) 0/0 163/55 3,177/2,362 1,002/277 Totals: 5,539 1,279 % of the total County population reached through 16% 3% deliveries and newsstand *Note from PDN: Gardiner is located within the Sequim zip code 98382. The Gardiner city name was changed to Sequim to conform to postal mailing standards when the PDN started being mailed at the end of March 2022 ELECTRONIC CIRCULATION & READERSHIP The Leader Peninsula Daily News Number of paid electronic subscriptions (not included with paid print subscriptions above): 210 2,631 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 93,788 574,012 • Number of unique visitors 24,080 134,710 Legal Notices in particular—Monthly Average: • Number of hits 94 401 • Number of unique visitors 80 138 Social Media: • Are legal notices posted on social media? Yes. Via a link on The Yes. Facebook 27,000 If so, please describe what social media, Leader's Facebook followers, 162,000 and any metrics on number of visits: page. During the last reached, 87,000 post bid period, nearly engagements 49,999 readers were reached via Facebook, an increase from the previous year by 9.5%. Close to 86,000 readers engaged with content via Facebook during the same period. Do you also list your legal notices at: Yes Yes hops://www.wai)ublicnotices.com? Please include with your bid: A proof and a quote Sample#1: Sample#1: 2 for two sample legal notices Cost to run once: $328 Cost to run once: $150 Sample#2: Sample#2: Cost to run twice: $56 Cost to run twice$28.80 Additional bid package items received: Cover letter, Appendix outlining The Leader's request to be the Business Card. County paper of (Attached) record. Attached 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 Leader reaches 16%of County population and the Peninsula Daily News reaches 3%of the County population through deliveries and newsstand (Office of Fiscal Management 2023 Jefferson County population estimate is 33,350) • The print circulation of the Leader in Jefferson County is over 4 times greater than the circulation of the Peninsula Daily News. • 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 13, 2023 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 April 3, 2023. 3 % Che Ember 226 Adams Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368 I 1-360-385-2900 Board of County Commissioners March 3,2023 Jefferson County Courthouse 1820 Jefferson Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 Dear Commissioners: Thank you for the opportunity to bid on the contract to publish legal notices for Jefferson Country through June 30,2024 Enclosed you will find a completed bid form and attached documentation. The Leader's bid this year is$8.50 per column inch,accounting for a 30 percent increase in paper and printing costs within the last year. Placing Legal ads with The Leader is a sound business decision for the county. Since The Leader was awarded the bid for July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023,dozens of city and county employees have had more than 250 legal ads published. As the current newspaper of record for Jefferson County, awarding the bid to The Leader ensures county and city employees will be able to continue publishing ads as needed without interruptions. The Leader takes pride in exceptional customer service, be that by educating a new business owner about their advertising options or an existing subscriber who has not learned to get online yet. For the county and city, we will continue to offer you a designated contact to place legal notices,and answer questions. Now in its 134th year of community leadership,The Leader has strong ties in Jefferson County and plays a role in educating citizens about local government: Over the last 12 months, for example,our special section celebrating 150 years of East Jefferson Fire Rescue(Oct. 5,2022)or in the collaboration with the county, "Jefferson County. Know the Weather. Know Your Risks"(Jan 18,2023). The Leader has the greatest print circulation of any printed media in Jefferson County and a reliable track- record of getting papers into readers' hands via our partnership with the United States Postal Service and local,dedicated drivers. Additionally, within our industry,The Leader has outstanding digital coverage. Whereas the average for similarly-sized newspapers is 1:43 minutes spent per page, Leader readers spend 2:21 minutes. We also enjoyed over one million page views by nearly 300,000 readers in 2022. We appreciate your consideration. If you have any questions or require clarification on any part of this bid for the County's legal notices,please do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely r G Laura Jean Schneider,Associate Publisher Port Townsend&Jefferson County Leader illy NPwS PDN SOUND PUBLISHING INC COMMUNITY-DELIVERED Eran Kennedy Regional Advertising Director ekennedy@soundpublishing.com (360)912-3993 Cell (360)683-3311 Sequim Ext 15049 (360)779-4464 Poulso Ext 15049 (360)452-2345 Port Angeles Ext 15049 P.O.Box 1330•305 West First Street•Port Angeles,WA 98362