EDITOR’S NOTE: Salem Reporter adds legal notices to boost access, save public money

We launch a new service at Salem Reporter today in our continuing effort to better serve the community.

This time, we’re adding publication of public notices to our service. This has several benefits for readers, for government bodies and for Salem Reporter. I’ll explain those in a moment.

First, let me lay out what you should know about public notices.

Oregon law requires government agencies and some private parties to tell the public about impending actions. In most instances, they must pay to publish these notices through news organizations. The reasoning is that this assures citizens will be alerted to these matters before they happen.

These are not news items. They are placed by government officials, private attorneys and others. At Salem Reporter, they are not reviewed or edited by anyone on our news team. We are simply providing the electronic bulletin board.

What can you learn from public notices?

When it comes to government, you might learn about a public hearing for a change that could impact your property or your neighborhood. You might learn about projects that are out for bids and some of you may even be in a position to bid. And during certain times of the year, you’ll see budgets that must be made public, from the city of Salem to the Salem-Keizer School District and more.

Private attorneys use public notices when representing estates that are moving through probate. These notices alert the community that claims against an estate are due. Private attorneys also use notices to show the impending sale of property, usually in foreclosure. And sometimes those being sued in state court are served ­– told of the lawsuit – through a public notice.

Starting Aug. 1, Salem Reporter is providing this service. Here’s how it will work.

Anyone can use the service to post or read notices. You don’t need to be a subscriber.

For those posting, it’s easy to use. We have a link to a self-service form under our “Public Notices” heading on our website. In one place, anyone can add the language of the notice, schedule when it should be published, and pay for it.

We’re going to make these notices as public as possible in ways not usually done. The public notice will be published on our website. The notice will be shared on our social media channels at Facebook and X (Twitter). The access will be free. Again, you won’t need to be a subscriber to read the notices.

And we’ll have these notices all gathered in one place – in our “Public Notices” section. You don’t need to click through a search window. You can scroll through each and every notice.

Why are we doing this?

Here are the benefits:

• Saving taxpayers money. Government agencies can spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on a single notice. We are charging one flat fee. Over a year, that means big savings for governments that use our service ­– and a saving of public money.

• Saving money for private users. With lower costs to publish a notice about an estate, for instance, the estate might well have more money to distribute to heirs.

• Fulfilling the true intent of public notice requirements by giving you and the community more access in more ways to notices.

• Keeping the money local. By using Salem Reporter, clients know the fees they paid stay local. They don’t flow out of Salem to support the profits of some national company.

• Providing Salem Reporter more resources to serve our community with news coverage that is expanding and is unmatched.

All in all, this new service is a win for government agencies, private attorneys, taxpayers and those who believe in the need for quality local news.

I invite those of you who place notices to review our website guide or reach out to me personally with questions and get started. We’re here to serve.

Les Zaitz is co-founder and CEO of Salem Reporter. Contact him by email: [email protected].