City Hall -- LNN

By Dori Modney

City Hall to increase platform advertising for public notices

Jan 27, 2021 | 12:17 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB. – On Tuesday (Jan 26), City Council voted 6-2 in favour of Bylaw 6251, which establishes Alternate Methods of Public Notifications and Advertisements. The decision was reached after the bylaw’s second and third reading.

Under Section 606.1 of the Municipal Government Act, which was added in 2017, “a municipality has the option to use advertising methods other than a local newspaper or print publication for legislated advertising, if Council sees it as expedient and efficient at reaching a significant portion of the population.”

Breaking it down into the practicality of the issue is as follows:

Ever since Lethbridge’s inception, whenever there was, for example, a public policy issue or redefining of Lethbridge governing practices or building restrictions, or any situation that required public input, debate or explanation, the issue was to be advertised in the local newspaper. The reason was simple – newspapers were, at one time, the only form of mass communication.

However, if you fast forward many decades, that is no longer the scenario. Lethbridge now has not only a newspaper, but also two television stations (Global and CTV), six radio stations (several of which have news departments) and a digital newspaper or portal (LNN).

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Over the years, Lethbridge continued to grow, evolve and mature. Unfortunately, communication practices didn’t keep pace. Whenever a public information session was required, the information was dutifully advertised in the newspaper, which was great for those who gather information from that specific platform. However, in a city of over 100,000 people, a large portion of residents are getting their news and information from one or more of digital or electronic news sites.

When the city used resident information from open houses, forums and presentations at Council to make decisions based on resident feedback, the electronic media would then receive angry questions from the public, who wanted to know why the city had not notified residents about public information meetings.

The bylaw changes will not eliminate current methods of public notices. However, as Councillor Jeffrey Coffman says, “This is an opportunity to evolve how we inform our residents about public notices by using taxpayer dollars effectively and creating a multi-channel approach to our communication about public notices – we are meeting residents where they are at in today’s age, instead of only using channels identified in an old version of the Municipal Government Act that requires residents to seek information from us.”

People cannot seek out information, if they are unaware it exists.

The changes being undertaken will not eliminate any current channels used for public notices – rather, more transparency will be seen by spreading out the budget to different channels and reaching people where they are getting their information. The City will still be advertising in print media. This diversification and flexibility around communications about legislated public notices will involve a mix of print and digital formats.

“Although part of this bylaw was framed around cost savings, the greater intention is to increase flexibility in how we notify the community about public notices,” says Ryan Westerson, Legislative Services Manager

The City’s website is still the primary resource for delivering complete information about each public hearing, while other forms of advertising would be used to reach and inform the public.

Electronic advertisements subject to this bylaw will be posted on the City’s website at lethbridge.ca/notices and the full bylaw can be viewed there.