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necessary but he is not sure if it is completely necessary to have it six times a year. He feels it <br />should be left at the discretion of the City Council and City staff. <br />Commissioner Bendtsen stated that he would not be in favor of eliminating paper and using <br />strictly email. He continuously refers back to the newsletter and it is nice having it in paper <br />form. <br />Commissioner Deemer questioned if the grade of paper could be changed to somewhere in <br />between what we used to have and what we have now that would save some costs to which Mr. <br />Ulrich responded there likely is. He explained that we went with glossy and the better grade <br />because of the advertisers. There are a variety of paper qualities. <br />Commissioner Sherman suggested that maybe four times a year and something in the utility bills <br />is a nice compromise. <br />Commissioner Niederhaus calculated that it costs about $30,000 per year to put the newsletter <br />out to everyone six times. <br />Mr. Ulrich added that the total savings for two less issues is about $8,035, which includes <br />printing, staff time and postage. <br />Commissioner Deemer stated that the City Council is in charge of the money and the City so he <br />would like to see the City Council tell the Charter Commission what they want do and we can do <br />it and added he would like it kept at six issues. <br />Chairperson Field thought the City Council was really looking more for scaling back. <br />Mr. Ulrich stated this came up as part of the budget discussion and it was noted that the Charter <br />did not allow us to go to less than six issues. <br />Motion by Commissioner Bendtsen, seconded by Commissioner Sherman, to drop it down to <br />four times a year and to have that brought back as an ordinance to amend the Charter. <br />Further discussion: Chairperson Field stated that if you went with a mailer in the utility bills, it <br />could still be kept at six issues, but it would be a one page newsletter a couple times a year. It <br />does not specify how many pages it has to be. Commissioner Anderson stated that the subject of <br />the US Post Office being used. She wondered what alternatives have been talked about. Mr. <br />Ulrich replied that during the Charter Commission's last discussion of this, we talked about the <br />electronic medium as well as other papers. It was determined that it should not be sent out with <br />The Shopper as that would be less of a standard and not as consistent or put it as a stuffer in the <br />Shopper. Commissioner Niederhaus stated that in reviewing the information supplied, it appears <br />the printing is almost two - thirds of the cost so he suggested getting quotes for printing to see if it <br />could be done cheaper. He didn't really think the cost of mailing was the problem. City <br />Administrator Ulrich responded that staff routinely bids out the newsletter to get the best price. <br />Staff could look at different grades of paper as well as less colored pages. Commissioner <br />Niederhaus suggested maybe the high school has a print shop and they could do our newsletter as <br />Charter Commission/ April 19, 2012 <br />Page 9 of 10 <br />