DC City Attorney: Messenger is not a legal newspaper

In an on-going debate about legal newspapers in Dodge County, the city attorney for Dodge Center has advised the city that the Dodge Center Messenger is not a legal newspaper.
Dodge Center City Administrator issued a Memorandum to the City Council on Dec. 8 in which he specifically tackles the Legal Newspaper issue that has been raised in recent months by the Dodge County Independent. In his Memorandum referring to the Dodge Center Messenger, City Administrator Lee Mattson pointed out that City Attorney Timothy Woessner has “opined that this does not satisfy the statutory requirements of a legal newspaper.”
At issue is whether the Messenger meets the statutory requirement of publishing at least twice a month.
Mattson’s memorandum sheds light on what the Messenger has been doing in regard to publishing. At present, the Messenger claims to have a circulation of 1,821. Mattson outlined how a review of the Messenger’s postal service documentation shows that they are only sending a copy of the Messenger to those 1,821 recipients once a month. For the second publication of the month, 209 copies are sent to the Dodge Center Post Office with a comment that they are “for P.O. Boxes and 200 copies are sent for delivery to mailboxes with a comment that they should be distributed until they are gone,” Mattson’s memo stated.
Mattson’s investigation also found that the Messenger was only sent out once in July 2023.
“I have reviewed this with the City Attorney, and Mr. Woessner has opined that this does not satisfy the statutory requirements of a legal newspaper,” Mattson wrote, noting the statute requires that all conditions of being a legal newspaper be satisfied for 12 months prior to being selected as an official newspaper. “Mr. Woessner advises that the Messenger should be published and distributed to its full circulation of 1,821 for 12 months to comply with this requirement,” Mattson added.
Messenger Editor Terry Campbell has requested Dodge Center to discuss the matter yet again at its January meeting, which was Monday night. In a Memorandum to the council in the January meeting packet, Mattson noted the city and Dodge County are in the process of seeking a legal opinion from an attorney specializing in this area of law, though no name was mentioned. The cost to get this opinion would be shared between the city and county.
The Dodge County Independent first raised the issue in November when it was discovered Triton School District was apparently not complying with state statute regarding publication of legal notices. The Triton School Board voted to make the Messenger its legal newspaper in July 2023 after publishing with the Dodge County Independent for years.
Efforts to get Triton to comply with the law have been unsuccessful to date. Superintendent Craig Schlichting has simply suggested that the DCI take the matter to court if it doesn’t agree with Triton’s decision.