Subject:
Title
Motion Directing Staff to Advertise Using Least Expensive Publisher, Dist. 2
End
Fiscal Impact:
This will save the County money on legal advertisements. Over a short time, this would likely save hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Dept/Office:
District 2
Requested Action:
Recommendation
Where lawfully permissible, staff shall endeavor to use Trader Jake’s for required legal advertisements.
End
Summary Explanation and Background:
This motion seeks to direct staff to cease defaulting to Florida Today for required legal advertisements. There exist local publishers with whom the County could advertise many of its legal ads.
It is requested that staff, whenever permissible, use Trader Jake’s (which appears to be far less expensive than Florida Today and donates all proceeds to Wounded Warriors) for required legal advertisements.
By way of comparison, the following example ad rates were provided by Melbourne Vice-Mayor Paul Alfrey:
An ad which would cost $65 in Trader Jake’s would cost $83.59 in Florida Today - a 29% difference. An ad which would cost $95 in Trader Jake’s would cost $197.02 in Florida Today - a 107% difference. An ad which would cost $275 in Trader Jake’s would cost $1,357.44 in Florida Today - a whopping 394% difference!
In addition to cost savings for the County and, by extension, taxpayers, Trader Jake’s provides totally free online access whereas Florida Today has a subscription pay-wall. This will make viewing legal notices markedly easier and infinitely less expensive for a vast and growing segment of the population. Trader Jake’s tangible paper is available at a number of locations throughout Brevard County for a mere 25 cents - with all proceeds going toward Wounded Warriors.
Florida Today is no longer printed in Brevard County and is owned by a Virginia-based corporation. Trader Jake’s is locally owned and operated. The Brevard County Clerk of the Court has listed Trader Jake’s (along with Florida Today and Veteran Voice [Weekly]) as “publications in which legal notices could be posted.” See: <http://brevardclerk.us/legal-notice-publications>
Multiple municipalities, including the two most populous cities in Brevard County, now use Trader Jake’s for their legal advertisement needs. On Tuesday, February 25, 2020, the City of Melbourne voted 7-0 to switch from Florida Today to Trader Jake’s, where permissible, for all legal advertisements.
Palm Bay, the County’s largest city wrote, in a “letter of recommendation for Trader Jake’s,” in pertinent part, “I am pleased to write this letter of recommendation for Trader Jake’s. The City… has been utilizing Trader Jake’s for… the City’s legal advertising needs over the past three years. The City Council found Trader Jake’s to be the least expensive vendor to have met the statutory requirements of a newspaper of general circulation… I feel confident in recommending [Trader Jake’s] advertising services; [it] has been reliable and easy to work with. When last minute changes were requested on ads, [Trader Jake’s] did [its] best to accommodate…”
Where lawfully permissible, staff shall endeavor to use Trader Jake’s for required legal advertisements. Staff must advertise in compliance with any requirements imposed by Chapters 50, 125, and 163, Fla. Stat., where required.
As Brevard County has been essentially subsidizing Florida Today for years (by using it as its exclusive provider for required legal advertisements), in the event Florida Today is no less expensive than another provider, the other provider shall be selected absent written approval by the County Manager which must articulate, with specificity, the nature of the extenuating circumstances justifying the use of Florida Today at greater taxpayer expense. Such written approval must be obtained for each and every advertisement procured from Florida Today and shall be verbalized, during Board Reports, by the County Manager, at the soonest regularly scheduled Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Advertisements not subject to specific legal requirements may be advertised with any media outlet other than Florida Today. This includes, but is not limited to, Trader Jake’s in addition to Brevard Business News, Brevard Times, Charter / Spectrum, Clear Channel, Cox Media, Cumulus, Facebook, Florida Daily, Fox 35 Orlando, Google / YouTube, Graham Media, Hearst, Hometown News, Horton Broadcasting, iHeartMedia, Lamar, News Radio 1300, The Reporter, Space Coast Daily, Veteran Voice Weekly, Viera Voice, and the Weekly Eagle.
Clerk to the Board Instructions: