Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/568289
The following questions came from The Leader (Knox), the Carroll County Comet (Delphi) and The Rochester Sentinel: I received a docu- ment that says Re: Notice of Tort Claim. However, the document does not have a seal on it. Does that mean it has not been filed? I called my county's clerk, and it has not been filed in my county. I'd like to do a story on this because it is the next phase of an issue that I previously reported, but I want to make sure it is a legal document. Before a lawsuit is filed against a government agency in the court, the plaintiff should file the claim with the government agency targeted. (This gives the public agency an opportunity to pay the claim or negotiate a different sum before anyone has to start paying legal costs.) If you have a copy of the claim, you know which agency is the target. Contact that entity and ask for copies of tort claims filed with it over the past couple of months. The tort claims are disclosable public records, so you shouldn't have a problem getting copies. That will tell you whether the first step has been taken toward filing the lawsuit. If the tort claim hasn't been filed yet, then the story may be premature for publication because the tort claim might never be filed. Does a subcontractor qualify for the govern- ment rate for public notice advertising? We received a public notice from a man with Colliers International who said he represents the state of Indiana for surplus real estate auctions and should qualify for that rate. If Colliers Inter- national is an agent of the state – placing a public notice that a state agency is required to publish – then the ad would be eligible for the legislative- mandated rate. If Colliers is placing the ad for a private party that is required to publish a notice under Indiana law, it would not be eligible for the government rate. Based on your email, it sounds like the ad would be eligible for the public notice advertising rate since the state is required to publish notice of a surplus property sale. Our area schools are starting to publish their budgets and have requested one run date. I pulled one from last year, and it was published twice. Are we publishing only one run date this year? The single publi- cation would be correct. Under current law, notices of hearing for the Capitol Projects Levy and the School Bus Replacement Levy should be published once at least 10 days prior to the hearing or meeting. Since you're saying this is a change from past practice, I believe the schools were previously going by language at IC 5-3-1-2(j) that said some events required two publications a week apart, with the latest at least three days prior to the event. This was the language that was removed as duplicative at the suggestion of Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, compared to IC 5-3-1-2(b) – concerning any matter not specifically mentioned in subsections (c) through (i), then publication once at least 10 days prior to the hearing is required. Steele picked to eliminate the catch-all language requiring two publications instead of the catch-all that requires one publication. Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law ques- tions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427. Page 8 September 10, 2015 H SPA will soon begin work on a comprehen- sive guide to public notice advertising. The boards of directors for HSPA and the HSPA Foundation agreed to fund the creation of the guide. The goal is to have to it completed and available at hspa.com before the end of the year. Many newspaper staffers have voice a desire for a pub- lic notice guidebook over the years. The most recent guide dates to 1989 and was dis- seminated by the state Board of Accounts. The office reportedly dis- continued the guide for fear of legal liability if it con- tained an error. Two Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis students will assist me in the project. Kris Cundiff and Bennett Fuson were my leg- islative assistants during the 2015 General Assembly. When the guide is complet- ed, publishers, ad directors and other staff who handle public notices, or legals, as they're often called, will have a place to go to try to get answers to questions such as: • How often must a par- ticular notice must run? • How do I calculate the line rate if my newspaper goes to a different column width? • Does the newspaper have to give the government- mandated rate for a sheriff's sale (mortgage foreclosure) notice? The project coincides with an effort by the HSPA's Promotional Committee to assemble a public notice advertising toolkit for news- papers. The tools will vary from suggested house ads to tem- plates for editorials to sug- gestions on how to better promote the value of public notice advertising. The Promotional Com- mittee, chaired by incoming board president Chris White, publisher of The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster), recognizes the need to remind Hoosiers of the democratic principles that public notice advertising is built upon and to remind newspaper person- nel about the need to present these notices in a reader- friendly manner. I've heard too many stories from government officials, law- yers and citizens about poor customer service when it comes to public notice advertising. This has driven some bureaucrats to seek the elimi- nation of publication require- ments for public notices. Such treatment of pub- lic notices, coupled with Indiana's lack of civic engage- ment, increases the risk of legislators deciding to pull the plug on the publication process. If newspapers don't give public notice advertising the respect it deserves, it's less likely Hoosiers will read the notices or act on infor- mation about what public officials are doing or contem- plating. The toolkit will include suggested best practices for newspapers to shine a spot- light on public notice adver- tising, whether by visual design or referencing notices in coverage of governmental activity. For example, one news- paper recently did a story on the money belonging to Hoosiers that is held by the state Attorney General as unclaimed property. Millions of dollars is involved. The newspaper dutifully mentioned the AG's website where one can search to see if he or she has money held by the state but didn't men- tion that the list of people living in that county on the unclaimed property list would be published in the newspa- per for all to see. Public notice advertising is a concept as important to the public's right to know as the Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act. HSPA plans to help the Public Notice Advertising Law get the respect it deserves. Steve Key is executive director and general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association. Key Points Steve Key Public notice ads key to transparency HSPA Hotline A A A Q Q Q