Council reviews printing options
Staff photo/Kathy McCarty
PROPOSING A CHANGE to the city’s Annual Report, City Manager Jim Bennett holds up a copy of the Maine Potato News to show councilors the size and format city officials are considering changing to in order to save money and get the publication into more citizens’ hands, starting this year.
Bennett indicated the new version, if approved by City Council, would be inserted into an upcoming issue of the Star-Herald, reaching over 5,000 subscribers. Last year the city published about 1,000 booklets, with only 500 picked up by citizens. Councilors tabled the discussion at their April 4 meeting, with plans to continue discussion at a later date.
PRESQUE ISLE — The city may be distributing the annual report a bit differently this year, in an effort to reduce costs while getting the data into the hands of more citizens.
City Manager Jim Bennett told councilors during the April 4 meeting that “every year we buy a bunch of booklets and every year we cut back because we have a lot left over.”
“Last year we ordered 1,000 — probably have 500 left,” said Bennett, noting city officials have been brainstorming for a more cost-effective way to increase the number of reports making it into citizens’ hands.
Bennett indicated the trend in recent years has been more booklets were printed than were actually picked up by residents, despite them being free and available at both City Hall and the library. He said one way to increase distribution was to change the way the material is printed, as well as the way it’s made available to the public.
“We thought about having it inserted in the newspaper (in a format similar to) like the Maine Potato News,” said Bennett, holding up an issue of the industry newspaper to show councilors the approximate size and format being considered as a replacement for the report, which is currently printed as a bound booklet.
Bennett acknowledged there was a “down side” in that a newspaper insert would be “harder to collect,” for those who’ve made a habit of saving the reports from year to year.
On the up side, Bennett said this version “has the potential to be more useful and appropriate to citizens and communities around us,” since the report would be inserted into an issue of the Star-Herald and distributed in approximately 5,450 newspapers.
“In addition, we’d have about 400 extra copies printed to distribute at our discretion,” he said.
Bennett said cost has been a driving factor in looking for a new format, since the 1,000 copies printed last year cost $2,500 to produce and costs for that format are expected to be a bit higher this year. Should the Council decide to go with the newspaper version, Bennett said the city has received a quote of $2,000 for the newspaper insert and the extras.
“The cost here is $2,000. You paid $2,500 last year, so that’s a savings of $500,” said Councilor Bruce Sargent.
Bennett said if councilors decided to stay with the current format, the city would still pay about $2,000, but the actual number of copies printed as a booklet would be 700.
“To have 5,400 in the Star-Herald, I think it’s a good idea,” said Sargent, with Councilor Mel Hovey noting he agreed.
Councilor Don Gardner expressed concern over changing such an important public record, since newsprint doesn’t hold up over time as well as a bound booklet.
“A lot of people like the format we have now. People use them to trace information through the years. They’re more substantial,” said Gardner. “These (newspaper version) won’t make it past the wood stove. I don’t think it’s a good idea. If you have to, go down in printing, but don’t do away with something people like.”
Bennett said the report would have to be printed in one format or the other, but not both, since it would be costly to print a small run of 400-500 booklets.
Councilor Walt Elish asked if the report would be made available on the city’s website, www.presqueisle.govoffice2.com. Bennett said there was no reason it couldn’t be, since other data is already posted there on a regular basis.
“We’re putting bigger documents (than the report) on there now in pdf form,” said Bennett.
Finance Director Pat Webb told councilors the 2010 annual report is currently posted on the web.
Hovey said that’s the way more and more businesses are posting company information.
“I know a lot of stockholder businesses that that’s the only way you can see their annual reports is on their websites,” said Hovey.
With discussion concluded, Gardner made the motion and councilors approved it to table a decision on the matter until more public input could be obtained.
