Agenda Date: 01/07/2024
Subject:
Title
Resolution 01-2025: Approving designation of where notices of public meetings are posted and identifying the newspaper where notices and other information required to be published will be printed
Body
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From: |
James L. Becklenberg, City Manager |
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Prepared by: |
Colleen L. Norton, City Clerk |
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Presentations: |
N/A |
PURPOSE:
Does city council support designating public meeting posting locations on the city website and at the Littleton Center, Bemis Library, and the Municipal Courthouse and identifying the Littleton Independent as the newspaper where notices and other information will be printed for 2025?
LONG-TERM OUTCOME(S) SERVED:
High-Quality Governance
DISCUSSION:
The Littleton City Code, section 1-3-2, governs how legal notices and other information are disseminated to the public. "For the purposes of the charter and this code, except where publication in a newspaper is specifically required by the charter, an ordinance or state statute, the terms “publication,” “publish” or “published” shall mean a minimum of two (2) of the following three (3) methods: a) posting on the city’s website; b) physical posting at the Littleton Center, Bemis Public Library and the Littleton Municipal Courthouse; or c) publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city." The Littleton Independent is a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Littleton.
All legal notices are posted on the city website and at the Municipal Courthouse, Littleton Center, and Bemis Library. The newspaper is used when specifically required by code.
BACKGROUND:
The Colorado Open Meetings Law, C.R.S. § 24-6-401, et seq., requires that any meeting at which a majority or a quorum of any public body is in attendance or expected to be in attendance, or at which any formal action on policies, positions, resolutions, rules or regulations occurs, “be held only after full and timely notice to the public.” Meetings include those held by “any board, committee, commissions, authority, or other advisory, policymaking, rulemaking, or formally constituted body of any [city].” “A local public body shall be deemed to have given full and timely notice if the notice of the meeting is posted in a designated public place within the boundaries of the local public body no less than 24- hours prior to the holding of the meeting.”
The Colorado Open Meetings Law further provides that the public place for the posting of such notices “shall be designated annually at the city council’s first meeting of each calendar year.”
Prior Actions or Discussions
This is an annual process.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
Fees for each posting in the Littleton Independent vary. Invoices are paid directly by the department submitting the legal notice for publication.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends city council designate the following posting locations for 2025: City of Littleton website, www.littletonco.gov; the bulletin boards at the main entrances of the Littleton Center, 2255 West Berry Avenue; Bemis Library, 6014 South Datura Street; and Littleton Municipal Courthouse, 2069 West Littleton Boulevard. Staff recommends that the newspaper of general publication, when publication in a newspaper is specifically required, be the Littleton Independent.
ALTERNATIVES:
• Approve the resolution designating the physical locations for posting as well as designating the Littleton Independent as our newspaper of “general circulation”. The Littleton Independent has been the designated newspaper of “general circulation” since 2014.
• Approve the resolution designating the physical locations for posting without designating a specific publication for “general circulation”. Not providing a specific publication for posting may present inconsistencies in posting requirements, deadlines, fees, and the ability for Littleton citizens to find the notice of publication or even be aware of upcoming hearings requiring such notice.
PROPOSED MOTION:
Proposed Motion
I move to approve Resolution 01-2025 approving designation of where notices of public meetings are posted and identifying the newspaper where notices and other information required to be published will be printed.