Newspaper public notice ads here to stay in Banff, council rules

Banff town council has unanimously voted down a proposed bylaw that could have allowed the town to advertise public notices online, rather than in the newspaper or through direct mail. 

The town is still allowed to put notices on its website, social media and e-newsletters — it just has to advertise in the paper or through the mail as well. 

"I'm just so happy to see that [the council] acted in support of the newspaper and also the residents of the Town of Banff," said Dennis Merrell, executive director of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association. 

Merrell, along with Rocky Mountain Outlook publisher Jason Lyon, had urged council to vote against the proposed bylaw. 

The two men said their main concern was around public transparency. If notices were no longer available in the newspaper by default, they said it could become difficult for residents to find out what was happening in their community. 

Lyon also acknowledged a potential loss of advertising revenue — even a small one — would affect his business. 

"At the end of the day, revenue is important to us to make sure that we're employing journalists and photographers," said Lyon. 

For its part, the town said the bylaw wasn't intended as a way to get out of putting ads in the paper.

Instead, director of communications Jason Darrah said the goal was to give the town more flexibility and to help inform people more quickly about bylaws, meetings and other municipal matters. 

Council ultimately decided the current system wasn't broken, and opted against trying to fix it. 

"The local paper is free and it's ubiquitous, it is very popular in this town," said Coun. Grant Canning. "For all those reasons … I think status quo is a good place to be."