HomeMy WebLinkAboutDISCUSSION re 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 24, 2025
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 6, 2025 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 3, 2025. 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:
001,
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Mark McCauleyb1ounty Administrator Date
rNj- Mark McCauley
w�$ON 1820 Jefferson Street
O w 1_� O PO Box 1220
Port Townsend, WA 98368
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0� Heather Dudley-Nollette,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 24, 2024
Re: Bid Award -Official County Newspaper
On March 3, 2025 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:
2024 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 inprint)
Number of days legal notices must be submitted 2 days 2 business days
prior to publication date
Legal notices must be received by which method: Email: Email, UPS
legals@ptleader.com
Time of day legal notices must be received 12:00 p.m. Monday, 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 Jefferson County may
• General advertisements, or employment placed for County submit any number of
advertisements in a section of the offices published at a press releases to be
newspaper other than the legal notice reduced rate, $14,50 considered for publication.
section. These advertisements will be per column inch, ($7.00 Any non-legal
coordinated through the County discount) and will advertisement will be
charged at$9.00 per
Commissioners Office. include logos and/or column inch. Legal notices
QR codes appear on
complimentary during peninsuladailynews.com
contract term. and our statewide
association's website,
wnpa.com at no additional
charge
Phone (360) 385-9100 mmccauley@co.jefferson.wa.us
TOTAL PRINTED CIRCULATION The Leader Peninsula Daily News
Copies per Geographical Area: Deliveries/ Newsstand Deliveries/ Newsstand
98368— Port Townsend 2,758/2,091 462/ 135
98325—Chimacum 117/ 170 31 / 11
98339— Port Hadlock 216/298 55/31
98365— Port Ludlow 391 / 101 78/ 18
98376—Quilcene 109/65 30/0
98320— Brinnon 41 /62 13/0
98382—Gardiner 26/29 1,610/267*
98358— Nordland 98/27 27/0
98331 — Forks (West End) 0/0 130/46
Subtotal 3,756/2,843 826 w/o Gardiner
341 w/o 98382
Totals: 6,599 1,167*
% of the total County population reached through 19.4% 3.4%
deliveries and newsstand
*Note from PDN: Gardiner has 1,610 deliveries, but they are unable to breakout further.
In 2023, they noted this was due to the Se uim 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): 411 3,411
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 178,333 895,390
• Number of unique visitors 31,250 175,689
Legal Notices in particular—Monthly Average:
• Number of hits 397 402*
• Number of unique visitors 233 134*
Social Media: No Yes
• Are legal notices posted on social media? Facebook:
If so, please describe what social media, 28,891 followers,
and any metrics on number of visits: 516,000 reached,
75,600 post
engagements
Twitter(X).
6,400 followers
325,387 impressions
1,222post engagements
Instagram:
3,912 followers
263,660 impressions
9,720 post engagements
-2024 statistics-
Do you also list your legal notices at:
https://www.wapublicnotices.com? Yes Yes
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Please include with your bid: A proof and a quote Sample#1: Sample#1:
for two sample legal notices Cost to run once: Cost to run once:
$551.48 $244.13
Sample#2: Sample#2:
Cost to run twice: Cost to run twice$87.50
$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 Leader reaches 19.4%of County population and the Peninsula Daily News reaches 3.4%of the
County population (2025 Population estimate is 34,002)
• The print circulation of the Leader in Jefferson County is over 5 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 24, 2025 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 7, 2025.
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