The Indiana Publisher

The Final Report of the Interim Committee on Government recommends that the legislature continue to require cities and towns to publish an annual fi nancial report. The vote called Oct. 3 by committee chair Rep. Kevin Mahan, R-Hartford City, was unanimous. The report did add that "more ways should be explored to disseminate public information, including fi nancial information" and that "a variety of media (including print media) should be used to disseminate public information so that the informa- tion disseminated is more relevant and useful to taxpayers." Hoosier State Press Associa- tion Executive Director and General Counsel Steve Key called the report a victory for Hoosiers who have indicated time after time that they want public notices published in local newspapers even if it costs the public agency thousands of dollars over the year to publish. "Citizens never push these efforts to eliminate public notice advertising – it originates with public offi cials who generally want to free themselves from the work involved to get the text of the notice to the newspaper in a Publisher The Indiana Volume 83, Issue 10 • October 2018 Published on second Thursday monthly Environmental rules board vote pending on publishing permits IDEM Update The fate of published notices of requests to pollute the air rests with a vote by the state Environmental Rules Board on Nov. 14. The board, chaired by former state-senator Beverly Gard, consists of 16 members, including IDEM Commissioner Bruno Pigott as a non-voting member. Four of the voting members represent other state agencies and the remaining 11 members represent various constituencies who were appointed by the Governor. The public hearing on the proposal to eliminate the required publication of notices of Air Quality Permit applications in newspapers was held Aug. 8. The only member of the public to testify was Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, who testifi ed against the proposal. Key said the testimony of IDEM's Chris Pedersen, chief of Rule Development Section, makes it clear to him the motivation behind IDEM's proposal – the lack of customer service by Indiana newspapers. Pedersen rattled off a list of issues with the placement of public The Value of Newspapers ad campaign makes print, web, audio and video ads available to HSPA member newspapers. See IDEM, page 9 Value of Newspaper ads available to promote HSPA member publications Indiana newspapers focus on telling the stories of people across the state — but they don't usually tell their own story. An advertising campaign sponsored by the HSPA Foundation gives member newspapers some tools to communicate to readers who they are, what they do in the commu- nity and why they're important. The Value of Newspapers ad campaign includes a series of customizable print and web ads including audio/radio and video spots that can be used on a paper's web page and on social media. The campaign was launched and sent out to member newspa- pers on Oct. 4. "Over the past several months, a small team of Hoosier State Press Association members and staff have been working to create a new marketing campaign to help See Reports, page 9 Interim committee recommends continued publication of fi nancial reports "It's the cost of doing business, not an unfunded mandate. It's the cost of democracy." Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange See Campaign, page 7 IDEM offers to mail notices to newspapers As IDEM's Offi ce of Air Quality attempts to eliminate the publication of public notices of Air Quality Permit application hearing, it now offers to mail notices of air quality permit applications directly to newspapers The Indiana Department of Environmental Management's Offi ce of Air Quality has reached out to the Hoosier State Press Association with an offer to mail directly to you informa- tion about air quality permitting actions. These permits are required for your local compa- nies to discharge pollutants into the air. Currently, IDEM must publish the notices of hearings on the permit applications in local newspapers, but that may change as IDEM is seeking See Offer, page 2 "We've got to get our truth out there." Pete Van Baalen, General Manager Fort Wayne Newspapers

• Cover