Do you remember the signs posted for the public hearing about the solar project? If you saw them at all, you were probably one of the few. You might think they didn’t want you to see them.
Advertisement for public hearings
If you go to the Venango Township website and look at the exhibits listed from the hearing, one of them is the advertisement the township placed in the Corry Journal. A lot of you never saw it and if you didn’t have a printed copy of the issue where it appeared, there was no other way you would have. It wasn’t online.
Some have questioned why it was in the Corry Journal in the first place and if you read the Sunshine Act, you have good reason to wonder. The Sunshine Act specifically mentions public notices:
The meeting notice must be published in a newspaper in the area where the principal office of the agency is located or in the area where the meeting is being held. The newspaper must have a paid circulation that is equal to or greater than any other newspaper in the area. (emphasis added)
Perhaps the township has a reason for advertising in the Corry Journal instead of the Erie Times News / GoErie.com where all other townships in Erie County place their notices, and it would be interesting to know what that reason is. Maybe someone should ask.
So the Corry Journal has a larger PAID circulation than the Erie Times News? Right. I wouldn’t even know where to get a copy, but I can go to almost any convenience store a grab a copy of the Times News.