Hollister council members Monday night approved the launch of a city newsletter – a quarterly publication put together by planning department staff members estimated to cost $5,000 for each edition’s design, printing and distribution.
Council members unanimously approved the newsletter item at their meeting Monday. It was listed on the consent agenda, and nobody requested to pull it for discussion.
While its design, printing and delivery would cost an estimated $20,000 per year toward the $14 million general fund budget, it is unclear precisely how much staff time will be invested in the effort. Staff officials in bringing the idea forward noted that council members for years have asked about developing such a newsletter, while new Mayor Ignacio Velazquez recently broached the topic to start one.
As for logistics, the newsletter will be printed on 11-by-17-inch sheets of paper folded into four pages, with the back page being in Spanish as a summary of the other pages. City Manager Clint Quilter said it will initially be printed on paper, with an intention to “wean people” toward an electronic version.
“Hard copies of stuff are a dying breed,” he said.
Development Services Director Bill Avera, who will oversee the newsletter operation, said the city expects the publication to include informational items such as those about animal control, recreation or new businesses. Topics would avoid politics or controversy, he said. The newsletter also might include some advertisements for the city – but nothing paid, he said.
As for the publishing process, he said no specific person from his office will likely be assigned to coordinating the newsletter and that the goal is to have most of the content merely sent in from city employees.
He said the city obtained one quote for the design, publishing and delivery – $4,600 per month from Design Line & Granger Printing – and that officials are looking at trying to partner with a nonprofit group in an attempt to obtain a cheaper postal rate designated for nonprofit organizations.
Avera before the vote said all of the council members were “pretty supportive” of the idea to try it a couple of times while also attempting to transition to an electronic format.
“It got really involved real quickly,” Avera said, reiterating officials can try the newsletter once or twice and see what happens. “Our point is that there’s a lot of stuff out there that we would like the entire community to know about and we don’t have a good method for getting it out there.”
As for the timing, voters’ passage of the Measure E sales tax extension gave city officials the option to consider something like a newsletter. Avera, meanwhile, acknowledged he will have to watch to ensure there isn’t too much staff time spent on it.
“That’s really the big push from the council,” Avera said, “not spending a bunch of time on it.”
