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City Hall to revive newsletter
By Kara Chalmers
At their Oct. 20 meeting, City Council members directed City Manager Larry Perlin to start collecting bids for producing the first issue of a Saratoga City Hall newsletter.
A newsletter was suggested at the council's retreat last June as a way to improve communication between City Hall and the public. "One of the topics we talked about at the retreat was how to solicit public input and participation," said Perlin later in a telephone interview. "Reconstituting the newsletter came up."
In the mid-1990s, the city's quarterly newsletter, The Saratogan, was killed because of a lack of funds and staff to run it. Now, council members seem eager to start the presses once more.
One feature of the publication would be to solicit feedback from residents, possibly with a punch-out card, or a survey for residents to fill out. Perlin said a message from the city manager, a directory with city phone numbers, and a calendar of events may be periodic features.
Council members decided the newsletter should be "no more glitzy" than Campbell's, which is a three-time-a-year publication with a different color title and headlines based on the season (the fall issue is tan, for instance). Campbell's bulletin is in black and white and, when folded, measures 81Ž2 by 11 inches.
The council also agreed to limit the initial issue to four pages.
Perlin estimated the total cost of publishing and mailing to all homes in Saratoga would be $4,800 to $7,200 per issue. If the council decides to publish the newsletter quarterly, the cost would be between $19,200 and $28,800 per year.
Perlin suggested that the city hire a publishing or graphics firm to produce the piece. He also recommended that people other than those on the city staff write the articles, perhaps local journalism students from one of the nearby colleges or from local high schools, so that issues are reported in a way that can be understood by residents who are unfamiliar with government terms. Council members agreed that that would be a wise and economical choice.
The council asked Perlin for a package of proposals by the end of the year. Council members hope to have the first issue out by April 2000.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
