Discussion:
On April 4, 2024 Southwest Publishing announced it was ceasing operations on April 27th leaving the city without a official newspaper in which to publish legal notices.
State statute (MN Stats. Ch. 331A) requires the city to designate an official newspaper to publish certain matters over the course of the year. This includes ordinances, resolutions when required by law, notices of public hearings on planning matters and public improvement projects, advertisement for bids, various financial reports, meeting and hearing notices, and certain election notices.
To be qualified as a medium for the official and legal publication, a newspaper must meet certain minimum qualifications including: be printed in English; distributed at least twice a month; circulated in the city; have its office in Scott County or a neighboring county, and file a copy of each issue with the State Historical Society. Under the state criteria, the The New Prague Times is the only viable option.
In addition, state statute (MN Stats. Ch. 331A.12) allows the designation of a city's website as the official notice venue for transportation projects. Publication on the website may be used in place of any other required form of publication. To comply with state statutes, the city must publish in a qualified newspaper and on the website, notice that the city will publish any future advertisements for bids on the city site. All notices under this section must be posted in substantially the same format and for the same period of time as required for publication in an official newspaper, and ensure that a permanent record of publication is maintained in a form accessible by the public.