Chronicle solicits county legal notices, ads

One way the government subsidizes local newspapers today is through legal notices. On Jan. 9, the Chronicle asked county commissioners to support its mission of covering local schools and nonprofits by running county legals in a second newspaper.

[00:00:16] Noel Nash (Chronicle): My name is Noel Nash. I’m a Lane County resident since 2019 and have been a local small business owner during that same time.

[00:00:24] This March will be the fifth-year anniversary of my wife and I owning the Chronicle, a weekly newspaper that covers Springfield, Creswell, Cottage Grove, and Pleasant Hill—nearly 90,000 residents who otherwise have no coverage of their lives, families, work, and passions.

[00:00:40] I’ve spent nearly 30 years in daily newspapers around the country, including working for the New York Times Company, the Pulitzer Company, and the Dallas Morning News.

[00:00:49] I spent 11 years at ESPN as a vice president overseeing the stats and information group, managing all public-facing data across every platform globally. I replicated that business in London and Sao Paulo, Brazil for ESPN International.

[00:01:04] Throughout that time, I missed the grassroots experience of telling the news and stories of people in small and rural communities.

[00:01:11] Our north star at the Chronicle is hyperlocal coverage. We are attempting to reinvent what a hyperlocal community newspaper can be. We cover your family, friends, and neighbors. We prioritize coverage of two things above all else.

1. Education. We cover eight high schools in four districts.
2. We cover the local nonprofits community, shining a light on volunteers and needs in the community.

[00:01:36] We are unabashed advocates for local businesses. Again, our mission is to bring credible, solution-oriented journalism that helps edify and unite a community. We are nonpartisan and do not endorse individual candidates of any party or persuasion.

[00:01:54] We are certified by the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and the U.S. Postal Service to publish legal notices. This requires a subscription-based newspaper, and we serve more than 30,000 readers a month in the southern Willamette Valley. We publish the legal notices in the weekly newspaper and online at PublicNoticeOregon.com.

[00:02:16] I’m here to solicit your legal notices and advertising business.

[00:02:20] Our structure, workflow, and process differentiate us from all other newspaper outlets. Our prices further differentiate us from all competitors. You’d be saving the public significant dollars placing legal notices with the Chronicle.

[00:02:35] Your colleagues already are. Springfield Utility Board, Willamalane (Park and Recreation) District, and the cities of Springfield, Creswell, and Cottage Grove all place legal ads exclusively in the Chronicle.

[00:02:47] If you have any questions, I’d encourage you to speak to anyone at those agencies who handle legal notices.

[00:02:52] Pat Farr (Board of County Commissioners): We had a testimony this morning from Mr. Nash regarding a second newspaper for the publication of our legal notices. Is there a process to do that or can we do that nimbly without a formal process?

[00:03:06] Erin Pettigrew (County Counsel): Thank you Commissioner Farr, for the question. We’d be happy to add an additional publication as a secondary option. In years prior, we did have a secondary option to be left at staff’s discretion based on the facts and circumstances of the notice.

[00:03:22] Ryan Ceniga (Lane County Board of Commissioners): Noel Nash, Mr. Nash, sounds like, not sure if our Commissioner Farr beat me to the punch, but that’s great. We all love the Chronicle.

[00:03:32] David Loveall (Lane County Board of Commissioners): …And for Noel, thank you for sharing your history. I had no idea, sir, how important of a journalist you were in your past and my hat’s off to you and hats off to the Chronicle. You guys do a great job and you’re a great addition to the southern, eastern, and Lane County area. And you need to stick around, sir. We appreciate you. Thank you very much.

[00:03:52] John Q: The Chronicle asks for the county’s legal notices and advertising business. County commissioners will decide in a future session. Those who cannot afford Chronicle or Register-Guard subscriptions can see legal notices online at PublicNoticeOregon.com.

House Bill 3167 (2023) amended ORS Chapter 193 – Legal Notices to allow for publication of legal notices in a digital newspaper.