Fairhope Legal Notices Leave the Newspaper: City Will Post Them at Four Buildings and Online

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Fairhope legal notices will no longer appear in newspapers. Under an ordinance the Fairhope City Council approved Monday, Oct. 12, the city will instead post its official notices at four public buildings around town and on a dedicated page of its website.

The change covers the notices that alert residents to new city ordinances, upcoming public hearings and proposed zoning changes. City officials say the new system will give residents several ways to find the information while cutting costs and removing delays that newspaper publishing deadlines have caused.

Where notices will be posted

Printed copies of each legal notice will be displayed at four city locations:

• Fairhope Municipal Complex, 161 N. Section St.
• Fairhope Building Department, 555 S. Section St.
• Fairhope Planning and Zoning Department, 451 Pecan Ave.
• James P. Nix Senior Center, 1 Bayou Dr.

Every notice will also be posted on a designated page of the city’s website, where it must remain for at least 120 days. That gives residents a running online archive of recent notices, rather than a single printed edition that can be easy to miss.

The city will continue mailing notices when state law requires it. Fairhope will also email notices to anyone who has signed up for the city’s distribution list.

Why the city made the change

The ordinance was introduced at the council’s Sept. 28 meeting and adopted two weeks later. City Attorney Chris Williams told the council that the move was driven by two problems: timing and cost.

Williams said that because there are no daily newspapers located within Fairhope’s city limits, the city often had to prepare and submit notices well in advance to meet publication deadlines. Those lead times, he said, slowed the city’s ability to act on ordinances. He also pointed to what he described as the extensive cost of publishing larger notices and images.

“We think this is a fair and a transparent way to notify the public,” Williams said. “Gives them a source, multiple sources, of obtaining the information and frankly it’s more cost effective for the taxpayers to not have to pay some of these costs, because they are extensive in terms of these notification requirements related to print media.”

Council president wants social media, too

During the Oct. 12 meeting, Council President Jimmy Conyers suggested the city go further than the four physical postings and the website. He said the city should also be “blasting them on social media” so the notices reach residents where many of them already get their local news.

The ordinance itself centers on the posted copies, the website and the email list. Whether the city adds a regular social media component will be up to city staff and leaders as the new system takes effect.

What legal notices are and why they matter

Legal notices, sometimes called public notices, are the formal announcements governments are required to make before taking certain actions. They exist so that residents have a fair chance to learn about decisions that may affect them and to speak up before those decisions are final.

At the city level, legal notices typically include:

• The text or summary of newly adopted ordinances
• Notices of public hearings before the City Council or Planning Commission
• Proposed rezonings and amendments to the zoning ordinance
• Other actions for which state law requires advance public notice

For generations, the standard method in Alabama and across the country has been to publish these notices in a local newspaper. Alabama law, however, has long allowed municipalities without a newspaper published within their limits to give notice by posting copies in public places instead, and Fairhope’s new ordinance follows that approach.

A broader shift in how governments notify the public

Fairhope’s decision reflects a debate that has played out in many communities as the newspaper industry has changed. Many papers have reduced how often they print, consolidated with other publications or moved their offices out of the towns they once served. Local governments have argued that publication costs have climbed while print readership has fallen, and that websites and email can reach more people for less money.

Supporters of newspaper publication counter that an independent, printed and archived record is harder to overlook or alter, and that not every resident uses the internet regularly. Fairhope’s approach tries to address some of those concerns by combining physical postings in public buildings with a website archive that must stay up for at least 120 days, while keeping required mailed notices in place.

How residents can stay informed

For Fairhope residents who want to keep up with zoning cases, new ordinances and public hearings, the city’s new system offers several options:

• Check the city website. Each notice will be posted on a designated webpage and kept there for at least 120 days.
• Sign up for email. The city sends notices to residents who join its distribution list.
• Visit a posting location. Printed notices will be displayed at the Municipal Complex, the Building Department, the Planning and Zoning Department and the James P. Nix Senior Center.
• Watch your mailbox. Notices that state law requires to be mailed will still be sent by mail.
• Attend council meetings. The Fairhope City Council typically meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month, and agendas are posted in advance.

The inclusion of the James P. Nix Senior Center as a posting site gives older residents, who may be less likely to check a website, a familiar place to see notices in person.

With the ordinance now adopted, residents should begin seeing notices at the posted locations and online rather than in the legal advertising section of a newspaper.