Contract award sparks debate

DARRELL L. BREESE

Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - The two major newspaper publications serving the Valley waited patiently Monday to hear how the Wasilla City Council would act in awarding a contract for public-notice advertising that was recently put out to bid.

Confusion surrounding the recommendation of the bid review committee led to a postponement of the award and has council members and perspective winners looking for answers.

At issue is how the scoring system, which was used to determine the best bid, was applied to both party's responses.

"It's like moving the bathroom without telling everyone," Council Member Mark Ewing said of the contract possibly going to the Anchorage Daily News. "Everyone's used to looking for public notices in the Frontiersman, and now it looks like things are going to change."

The city clerk's office solicited bids from the Daily News and the Frontiersman on March 9 for a half-page advertisement to run biweekly for a year. Municipalities are required by law to advertise public meetings and other required public notices in a newspaper of general circulation.

Bids were reviewed by a three-person committee - Clerk Kristi Smithers, Ted Leonard, director of finance and administrative services, and Archie Giddings, director of public works - that scored the bids independently. The point system used awards points for different aspects involved with fulfilling the contract.

The goal was to find the bidder presenting the best overall bid rather than just the lowest price.

When the committee's individual scores were tallied, the Anchorage Daily News received 275 points and the Frontiersman 271. This led Smithers to recommend the council award the contract to the Anchorage Daily News.

Frontiersman publisher Kari Sleight objected because the bid she presented was lower and she said the Anchorage Daily News appeared to be misrepresenting circulation numbers.

The Anchorage Daily News submitted a bid for $16,614 annually or $639 every two weeks to run the half-page ad in its weekly Mat-Su section, claiming a circulation of 8,892 in the Mat-Su Borough, based on gross distribution for a single day in 2004.

The Frontiersman bid $12,870 annually and $496 every two weeks. Circulation numbers submitted reflected the 2004 annual average circulation, with a total of 5,655. Full-color advertising, another factor in the scoring, will cost an additional $350 with the Daily News as opposed to $220 with the Frontiersman.

This was the largest point of contention for Sleight, who indicated that the average annual circulation is the accepted industry standard.

Using the circulation numbers provided, the review committee gave the Anchorage Daily News a maximum 115 points and the Frontiersman 76. The 29-point difference was enough to vault the Anchorage Daily News to a four-point advantage in the final score.

As a result of the circulation numbers used, Anchorage Daily News Advertising Director Kurt Vantosky claimed that despite the higher overall cost, advertising would cost 7.1 cents per copy compared to 8.7 cents per copy in the Frontiersman.

Sleight pointed out that the gap in circulation is much smaller when looking at the annual average numbers; the Anchorage Daily News reports an average of 6,253 and the Frontiersman 5,115 in the Mat-Su Borough. Using these numbers, the cost per copy favors the Frontiersman - 9.6 cents compared with 10.2 cents for the Anchorage Daily News.

"The Anchorage Daily News is using incorrect circulation numbers," Sleight said. "My main concern is that the city of Wasilla is basing the award of this bid on bad information. I am not faulting the city, because the circulation audit reports are difficult to understand."

Audited circulation numbers were provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, an independent third party. Sleight said that for those unfamiliar with the reports, it's difficult to accurately interpret the data.

Ewing and Council Member Noel Lowe were the most vocal on the city council during discussion, each on opposite sides of the debate.

Lowe grabbed hold of the price-per-copy comparison presented by the Anchorage Daily News as a reason to support the recommendation of the review committee in support of the contract.

"I was elected to make sure that city funds were spent in the most efficient matter," Lowe said during discussion. "And looking at these numbers, I will be voting in support of awarding the contract to the Daily News."

Ewing recalled a time when the Frontiersman was the only newspaper available in the Valley and struggled with the idea of the city notices being in the Anchorage newspaper.

"As long as I can remember, you could look in the Frontiersman for information about the city council meetings," Ewing said during the discussion. "With this scoring system that was used, I want to make sure the points resulted in a fair evaluation of the bids."

Despite being on the opposite side of the issue, Lowe agreed with Ewing and moved to postpone the decision until the council would have time to review the scores. The motion was approved by the council, delaying a decision on whether to award the contract until its May 23 meeting.

The Frontiersman had been handling the advertising for the city on a year-to-year basis. "We have had a good working relationship with the city for a long time," Sleight said. "We have published the public notices for them dating back probably since the city began publishing them."

The Frontiersman is soliciting assistance from the Audit Bureau of Circulation to help educate Wasilla's council members on how to decipher their reports.

"We've requested a letter of explanation from the Audit Bureau," Sleight said. "We failed to clearly educate the review committee and council about how to interpret the information contained in the audit reports. I believe that the letter will help the council members better understand the true meaning of the paid circulation numbers."

Individuals who wish to address the council on this matter must submit a request with the clerk's office, since there will be no public hearing.

Darrell Breese may be reached at 352-2267 or at darrell.breese

@frontiersman.com.