Q&A: Public notice boundary requirement

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From the Carroll County Comet (Delphi):

Q: What is the code section that states county public notices must be published in a newspaper within its boundary?

The local zoning board did not get a 10-day notice of a public hearing to us until after we published The Comet this week. Now they are publishing in two out-of-county newspapers to meet the 10-day notice requirement.

I told them it would not meet the requirements nor would it stand up to a challenge. What say you?

A: There are two relevant code citations for your situation.

IC 5-3-1-4 sets out the requirement that political subdivisions must place public notice advertisements in two newspapers published within their political boundaries.

If there is only one newspaper that qualifies, that newspaper is sufficient.

IC 5-3-1-0.6 sets out that a newspaper’s location, or place of publication, is where its original point of entry into the U.S. mail is (as listed on its periodicals mail permit).

I believe you are the only newspaper located in Carroll County, so the law would require the zoning board to publish in The Comet.

Publishing in out-of-county newspapers isn’t going to meet the legal requirement.

Contact Steve Key, HSPA executive director and general counsel, with media law questions at skey@hspa.com or (317) 624-4427.