Digitizing City of Rye Legal Notices – UPDATE

(PHOTO: Can't make it exciting but we can make it digital.)

Back on January 11, MyRye.com suggested Rye City consider digitizing its legal notices in order to save money and promote government transparency. There have been some general words of encouragement by Mayor Doug French and City Councilman Joe Sack and MyRye.com is in contact with Rye City about piloting a "digital disclosure" program at no cost to the city or its residents.

Here is the latest:

• Rye City needs to determine what is permitted by city and state law before discontinuing newspaper disclosure. Joe Sack reports the city charter would need to be modified to allow Internet disclosure (see here). City counsel Kristen Wilson chimed in on current law saying "As far as the "official newspaper" for the City of Rye, New York state law requires each municipality to declare at its first meeting of each year what the "official newspaper" is for all publications and notices.  Under state law, the official newspaper has to be "a paper of general circulation which is printed and distributed ordinarily not less frequently than once a week…contains news, articles of opinion, features, advertising or other matter regarded as of current interest, has a paid circulation…"  N.Y. Const. Law. Sec. 60 "Newspapers"."
• MyRye.com has asked the city for records on what is has spent on legal notices in past years. We'd like to see stats on what was spent in 2010, 2009 and 2008. That money gets spent with the Journal News newspaper.
• MyRye.com will work with the city to post legal notices at no cost and are in contact with the city manager's office.

Councilman Sack has suggested, and MyRye.com agrees, that a digital disclosure program should be pursued at the same time city and other local pols consider what charters and rules must be officially changed in order to discontinue the current mandated newspaper disclosure.