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Elk River <br />Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br />TO: <br />FROM: <br />ERMU Commission <br />Tony Mauren — Governance & Communications Manager <br />MEETING DATE: <br />AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />December 12, 2023 <br />2.4 <br />SUBJECT: <br />2024 Official Newspaper <br />ACTION REQUESTED: <br />• Designate Elk River Star News as the official newspaper for 2024. <br />• Approve alternative disseminations of bids via ERMU's official website. <br />BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION: <br />Minnesota Statutes Section 331A.04 requires the utility to annually designate a qualified <br />newspaper for the publication of legal notices. The newspaper must meet specific rules and <br />must be chosen based on their location. <br />The Star News meets those qualifications and is in the city so it must be chosen as the utilities' <br />official newspaper. <br />Looking forward, staff has researched the option to utilize ERMU's website for bid postings. <br />The constraints associated with publishing in the Star News include publishing deadlines and <br />costs to ultimately reach a limited audience as projects that are bid often draw companies <br />across the region and country. Campbell Knutson provided the following language for an <br />alternative dissemination of bids via ERMU's website. <br />Minnesota Statutes, Section 331A.03, subd. 3(a)-(b) allows for alternative dissemination <br />of bids, requests for proposals, and requests for information through the ERMU's official <br />website. The publication on the website must be "in substantially the some format and <br />for the same period of time as" a newspaper publication. Minn. Stat. § 331A.03, subd. <br />3(b). This means that if ERMU chooses to publish on their website, the publication must <br />look similar to the print version of the publication. Id.; see generally Minn. Stat. § <br />331A.05 (form of public notices). <br />Publishing on the website does not allow ERMU to abandon a newspaper publication <br />completely. See Minn. Stat. § 331A.03, subd. 3(a) and (c). For the first six months that <br />ERMU uses its website for publication, "it must continue to publish ... in the official <br />newspaper." Minn. Stat. § 331A.03, subd. 3(c). In addition, for those first six months <br />ERMU must note in the official newspaper where to find the website publication. Id. At <br />all times, including after the six-month transition period, ERMU must keep a description <br />Page Iof2 <br />