Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration filed legislation March 8 with City Council that would allow agencies and departments to publish some legal advertisements and public notices on the city’s website instead of in local newspapers.
Ordinance 2023-0187 says the city has established a publicly accessible website and that the cost of using it to publish legally required advertisements and public notices is less than using local newspapers.
The Jacksonville Daily Record has published legal notices in Duval County since the newspaper’s inception in 1912 and is paid for that service.
The bill adds language to city code sections that define how and where city agencies and departments can publish notices via “electronic advertisement” for these issues:
• Disposition of surplus real property by public auction or sealed bid and terms and conditions of the exchange.
• Sale of tangible personal property.
• Disposal of cut or uncut surplus timber.
• Declaration of water pollution emergency declarations, extensions and calculations.
• Public hearing notices on waste collection and disposal service areas
• Public hearing notices for contract awards for waste collection and disposal services.
• Notices of annual report of financial statement setting forth its assets, liabilities, income and operating expenses for the Jacksonville Enterprise Zone.
• Public awareness notices for citizens and property owners located within the Airport Noise and Airport Notice Zones on the potential for objectionable noise impacts.
The list doesn’t comprise all types of notices and it’s unclear what the legislation would mean for how the city publishes those.
The ordinance doesn’t refer to notices from the Duval County Clerk of Courts or the city’s independent authorities.
Change in Florida law
The move was made possible by changes the Florida Legislature made to state law in 2022.
The push by state lawmakers and some local officials to remove all public notices from local newspapers in favor of government websites has been a concern of Florida’s newspaper industry for years.
The Curry administration’s action is in response to Florida House Bill 7049 approved during the 2022 legislative session that revised requirements in Chapter 50 of Florida Statutes to allow counties and municipalities to operate “publicly accessible websites” for its notices and legal ads if it provides a cost savings.
The bill passed the House in March 2022 in a 78-39 vote and the companion bill passed the Senate 26-13. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it May 10, 2022.
Other Florida counties have approved similar bills.
According to the Sarasota Observer, the Sarasota County Commission adopted an ordinance in January giving the Sarasota County administration permission to publish its public notices on the county website instead of publishing them in a newspaper and the newspaper’s website.
The Manatee County Commission passed a similar plan in December 2022, according to the Observer.
The Sarasota Observer and the Jacksonville Daily Record are owned by Observer Media Group.
Jacksonville's bill
Jacksonville’s bill asserts officials have “determined that the cost of publishing advertisements and public notices on a publicly accessible website are less than the costs of publishing such advertisements and notices in a newspaper.”
It says moving “certain advertisements and public notices” would be more “economically beneficial” to Jacksonville citizens in “various ways.”
There were no cost estimates or supporting documentation showing economic benefits filed with the legislation.
The Daily Record submitted a public records request to the city for that data.
The bill does not remove from the code the city’s option to publish these notices in newspapers, but adds “or via such other electronic advertisement or notice method as permitted by law” to the language in each of the code sections referenced.
However, the changes made to the state law give counties a website-only option for public notices.
The city legislation puts its Information Technology Division in charge of maintaining the website.
In addition to posting city legal notices, the Daily Record is the official newspaper of the Duval Circuit and County courts, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, and the Jacksonville Bar Association.
Daily Record Publisher Angela Campbell said March 9 that having an independent source publish public notices is good for transparency in government.
“We are experts in our field and our current staff has more than 50 years of combined experience. We believe in transparency of government and notice to the public. Residents of Duval County know where to go to find out what the City of Jacksonville is doing with their tax dollars,” she said.
“We are a trusted and well-read source of this information. All public notices published in the Jacksonville Daily Record are also placed on JaxDailyRecord.com and the statewide site FloridaPublicNotices.com. This provides three opportunities for the public to be informed.”
The Florida Times-Union newspaper also publishes public notices in Duval County.
The Curry administration’s proposal would require the mayor’s office to provide annual notice to residents and property owners who have requested in writing to receive legally required advertisements and public notices from the city by first-class mail or email and maintain a registry of those names, their addresses and email addresses.
The bill could be introduced by Council President Terrance Freeman at Curry’s request as soon as March 14.