The City must publish notices of meetings, public hearings, resolutions and ordinances, requests for bids, and other ads. The present legal advertising agreement with The Billings Times expires April 30, 2017. Staff requested proposals for legal advertising and received responses from Yellowstone County News and The Billings Times. Liz Kampa-Weatherwax, Purchasing Agent, Debi Meling, City Engineer, and Denise Bohlman, City Clerk, carefully reviewed each proposal and unanimously chose Yellowstone County News, for the City's legal advertising needs. It is in the best interests of the City to have a contract for legal advertising for consistency in ad placements and to keep costs as low as possible.

On April 24, 2017, Council heard testimony from Liz Kampa-Weatherwax, Purchasing Agent, concerning the Request for Proposals (RFP) process and the committee's method of determining staffs' recommendation. Councilman Friedel made a motion to approve staff's recommendation, but it died for lack of a second. Councilman Friedel offered a Council initiative directing staff to place the item on the May 8, 2017 Council agenda for reconsideration. 

Additional information has been attached concerning each publishers' circulation numbers as provided in their Sworn Statement of Circulation, the RFP price matrix from each proposal, the sample ads used for price determination, and the committee estimates. 

Council may:

• Award an Agreement for legal advertising with Yellowstone County News; or
• Award an Agreement for legal advertising with The Billings Times; or
• Not enter into an agreement and advertise as needed, potentially at a higher cost.

The City spends an average of $21,000 per year for legal advertising.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the agreement for legal advertising with Yellowstone County News for the period of May 1, 2017, through April 30, 2018, with five, one-year options to renew by mutual agreement.