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process whereby we would use all of the newspapers in the community rather than just one. For instance, if a household subscribes to the Tri-Valley Herald, it would never see the notices if they are only published in the Valley Times. This is a situation where we have a low bidder and that low bidder has had success in a neighboring city with its legal ads. He did not want just one paper to have all the notices, especially with regard to special notices on meetings of major interest such as the San Francisco Water Department property and the General Plan. Ms. Acosta clarified that any notices of special meetings are published in all papers. She also pointed out that because we have a contract to publish our legal notices with the Times we get those large display ads at a significantly lower price. The overall cost for publishing in all papers is then reduced. Our concern is that if we publish legal ads in The India_pendent, when we have to go out and publish in all papers, the cost will be significantly more and the savings from the low bid would be negated. The legal notices would not be published in all three papers. When an ad is placed on Saturday, it is generally repeated during the week. The reason for publishing some things, like the Agenda Highlights on Saturday, is to reach those people who might work outside of the community and may have more time to read the newspaper on the weekends. We are striving to reach a lot of different audiences. We also run ads on Channel 30 from time to time, we use the School reader board, there have been billboards on properties, our mailing lists often reach over a thousand people, and all sorts of other methods are used to reach the largest number of people. We have a unique process that most cities are not using to reach the citizens. Mr. Tarver clarified that the legal notices are not for the avenge reader; they are notices required by law and those interested in reading legal notices would know in which paper to look for them. The notices of major significance are advertised in all the papers. Ms. Michelotti asked how much had been spent on legal ads. Ms. Ezidro indicated the Clerk's Office had spent approximately $24,000 for the fiscal year, which included all ads, both special notices and legals. The prior budget had been $15,000. That does not include what is spent by other departments. Ms. Mohr asked if there would be a difference if we had a non-exclusive contract. David Lowell, associate publisher of The Independent, respected the concerns raised by the City. He referred to his price quotations in the bid document. He indicated The Ind_ependent had been in business for 33 years and is not a subscription paper. It is distributed free. It has its own following and he felt it represented the majority of the community. He felt it offered- a good service, because it can pick up a computer disk the day before an ad is run in the newspaper. The other newspapers need several days to run an ad. He felt the technologies used by The Independent made it an easier paper to work with and there would be fewer errors in the copy by using the disk created by the City. He felt the once a week notice on Wednesday was adequate for the readership. He also suggested that if the lowest bidder is ignored, the other papers will not be inclined to bid so low the next time. He indicated it has worked with O71O9196 -14-