Council Members Unaware Legal Notices were not being Advertised in The NEWS
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Bill's Point of View
A change in the salary ordinance for the City of Gloucester City was advertised in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 10th. The ordinance was passed by Council at a meeting on August 6. If you recall last week I told you that our City is advertising Legal Notices now in the Inquirer instead of placing the 
information in the Gloucester City News or the Courier Post.
Placing legal ads in the Inquirer came about in March after the Camden County Freeholder Board sought bids for advertisements of Legal Notices from area newspapers. The County awarded the contract to the Inquirer, the lone bidder. Other municipalities and authorities in Camden County, as well as Gloucester County, can "piggyback" on the bid, printing their ads in The Inquirer for the same price. The Courier Post has filed a lawsuit against the Camden County Freeholder Board claiming that Legal Notices advertised in a Philadelphia newspaper is a violation of state statue.
If the Court rules in favor of the Courier all legal notices placed in the Philadelphia Inquirer by the County or any other municipality in Camden County will be declared null and void. Gloucester County and the City of Camden City have held off placing any Legal Notices in the Inquirer until the lawsuit is settled.
Council's recent action amends Subsection B of the salary ordinance and deals with titles in the Public Works Department. Two New titles were listed: Senior Building Maintenance Worker and Senior Garage Attendant. The rate of base pay for the new titled employees is to be the same as that of a Senior Water Repairer. The salary for these jobs was not listed in the ordinance.
The new ordinance also changed Subsection F of the Salary ordinance. It states the positions in this section are for regular appointments under the provisions of the NJ Dept. of Personnel to part-time positions. They are not entitled to benefits other than those specified in NJAC Title 4A. The salary for Fire Protection Inspector will range between $4,657 to $5,692. The establishment of these positions shall be retroactive to June 21, 2007.
Final passage and public hearing is scheduled for August 23 at 8 PM in council chambers, 313 Monmouth Street.
On Monday August 13th I talked with City Councilman Nick Marchese and he said that council members were under the impression that the City's legal notices were always placed in the Gloucester City News. Marchese said he was unaware that the recent salary ordinance and the City's audit synopsis of the budget were not advertised in the local paper. Marchese said he planned to discuss the matter with Municipal Clerk/City Administrator Paul Kain to find out why neither legal was advertised in The NEWS.
He added that even if there is a situation where it is an emergency and the City has to use another newspaper because of time, Marchese said he felt the Legal Notice should also be advertised in The News too so the public is kept in the know.