Attorney General Kris Kobach issued a legal opinion declaring cities in Kansas had the right to exempt themselves from state law requiring official city business notices to be printed by a designated newspaper. Kobach’s nonbinding analysis said cities could adopt ordinances that allowed them to inform the public by posting information on budget hearings, zoning proposals and other issues to a city-owned website rather than buy newspaper advertisements. … Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, said the attorney general’s interpretation of nonuniformity in state law mirrored the perspective of a lawyer representing KPA. On Friday, Bradbury said elected city governments would risk undermining transparency important to their constituents by adopting ordinances ending the practice of compensating newspapers for dissemination of notices to the public. … Over the past 20 years, attempts in the Legislature to abolish city-notice standards have been unsuccessful due to concern revenue losses by newspapers could leave them vulnerable to closure. … Bel Aire Mayor Jim Benage said the change to Bel Aire’s distribution of official information would save the city an estimated $10,000 annually. “Times change,” Benage said. “We think using our own city website to publish legal notices is a better way to share information with area residents. We feel it encourages more interaction with residents and spurs web users to seek even more detailed information through other links on our website.”
Source: Kansas Reflector
