By ANTHONY BOTTAN
The motion to add The Tribune as an official newspaper of Lynbrook, along with Newsday and the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald, was passed unanimously by the village board in August. Trustee Richard Clifford was on vacation for the vote. The Tribune is a free weekly newspaper based in Island Park. Legal notices, which are paid notices that let residents know of any meetings, new business openings, elections, foreclosures, village contract bids and other public notices required by law, are now to be split among the three newspapers, according to Mayor Brian Curran.
The placement of which legal notices will appear in the three newspapers has been stirring up discussion among the board, with some board members questioning the motive of the mayor and The Tribune.
Curran said the move to make The Tribune an official newspaper of the village was to promote Lynbrook businesses and entice future businesses to set up shop in the village. He said that a representative from The Tribune approached him two months ago and offered the mayor a full page in its paper dedicated to promoting Lynbrook restaurants and shops as well as a mayor's column.
"Its a great idea," Curran said. "It brings more business into the community and it will benefit the village as a whole."
Curran said the addition of The Tribune will come at no extra cost to the village. He said it will give Lynbrook's business community more publicity, but no increase in cost to taxpayers. The legal notices, Curran said, will alternate monthly among the three newspapers.
Cliff Richner, publisher of the Herald, said he was puzzled by the decision to add the Tribune. "The Herald has the largest circulation in the village," he said. "We also publish the village's notices free of charge on a national Web site, www.mypublicnotices.com, which allows companies from all over the world to search for and bid on requests for proposals and other items contained in these notices. If the mayor and trustees are really concerned about the most people seeing these notices they'll leave them in the Herald.
"We've had an excellent relationship with the village for many years," said Richner. "I understand a new administration likes to make changes, but I hope they'll consider our excellent coverage of the village - including the business community- every week. Our pages are always open to the mayor or anyone else who has something significant to say. That's not a quid pro quo for legal notices, it's part of our mission to provide readers with the most comprehensive and unbiased coverage of the village available anywhere."
Though the board voted to add the Tribune as an official paper, some board members are unsure if they made the right decision. Trustee David Penso, who voted for the motion to designate The Tribune as an official paper of Lynbrook, has changed his stance after doing some research of his own.
"I think it's a bad idea," Penso said.
After surveying eight to 10 surrounding villages, Penso said there was only one other village that had three official newspapers. The public will have to look now in three different newspapers to find out what's in the legal notices, Penso said, and the notices can be buried among three newspapers, thus making it that much harder for residents to find out information on the village.
"To have three official newspapers is suspect," Penso said. "If you are selective on [which] legals go where, the impression from the public is 'What are you trying to hide?' Clearly that is not good government and it makes government less transparent."
Penso said he spoke to a representative from the New York Conference of Mayors, who, according to their Web site, work to "improve the administration of municipal affairs in New York State by providing courses of training for municipal officials in service in New York State cities and villages." They told Penso that what is happening with the distribution of legals is not illegal, but it is not good government.
However, Penso's gripe is not only with the legal notices. The village has recently aired a Tribune television program on the village channel, which, Penso said, "was an embarrassment that it was shown on our channel and was so political in nature." He found the sequence of events leading up to the program being aired questionable. "First we name The Tribune an official newspaper, then we have the Tribune television show on the village channel, then the mayor has a column in The Tribune."
Clifford has similar reservations on the reason for naming The Tribune an official newspaper. "I think having three newspapers to look for legals makes it difficult to stay abreast of the happenings in the village," Clifford said. He is concerned that residents will be confused about where to go to find the legal notices and will inevitably "be shut out from the government they pay for."
"We constantly speak of transparency in government, this decision unfortunately undermines the transparency in government and creates an opaque veil over our village government," Clifford said.
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