09/24/96 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Earlier this year, City staff had heard that not all households in Ramsey were receiving the Andover, Ramsey, Ham Lake Times. Mr. Allan explained that households that don't have an ECM delivery box weren't getting his newspaper. This commonly happens in newly developed subdivisions. As soon as someone reports this, he arranges to have a box installed. Because we currently update our postal roll only quarterly, we encounter a similar situation where new residents might miss an issue or two of the Ramsey Resident Comparison: Taking into account the cost of printing and delivery, the cost of communicating with residents is comparable whichever route we use: $11,675 per year printing seven issues of the Ramsey Resident versus $10,104 per year printing our information in twelve issues of the Andover, Ramsey, Ham Lake Times. If we printed 12 newsletters per year, the cost of printing would be $20,014. The amount of staff time required to produce a monthly newsletter, however, would be beyond our current capabilities. The quantity of information would be significantly lower in the newspaper but it would be more focused specifically on items related to Ramsey. People would have to read through less information to locate items of concern or interest. On the other hand, some citizens have reported that they find the Extension Service information helpful. The paper quality of the newsletter is better than that of the newspaper: heavier paper and colored ink versus newsprint. Comparing the quality of the overall publication is more difficult and subjective. The amount of staff time would be less with the newspaper option because information would be submitted to the publisher on diskette. There would be less typing of articles such as those we receive from the Extension Service. There would be no employee time spent on layout, transporting copies from the printer or sorting and delivering to the post office. One advantage the newsletter has over the newspaper is that it has a more specific community identity. People know exactly what it is when they receive it. They may not take time to read a publication that has "Andover" as the first word in the title. A community newsletter probably has more potential to promote solidarity. Another advantage of a community newsletter is that we have total control over what appears in print. We would only control the pages that we pay for in a newspaper. Finally, the Anover, Ramsey, Ham Lake Times has been in operation for less than two years. If the paper goes out of business in the future, we would have to resume printing our own newsletter.