Council tables proposed partnership with Montgomery Neighbors Magazine to Aug. 26 for budget review

The City Council on July 15 voted to table consideration of a partnership agreement with Montgomery Neighbors Magazine until the council’s Aug. 26 meeting, councilmembers said. The proposed agreement would have the magazine publish a recurring City of Montgomery section — described in the presentation as a monthly "Community Corner" featuring a mayor’s newsletter, city event calendar and profiles of local departments and businesses. The publisher said the print distribution currently reaches about 3,000 homes in two ZIP codes and that the magazine also offers digital reach and optional expansion into additional ZIP‑code areas. Council and staff raised multiple questions about the proposal’s pricing and scope. The publisher presented multiple pricing tiers (half‑page print, full‑page, print+digital) and said she would donate a half‑page monthly for a mayoral newsletter; councilmembers said the pricing sheet in the agenda packet did not match the presentation and requested a corrected pricing schedule for the budget workshop. The council moved to table the item to the Aug. 26 meeting and asked staff to include the item in the budget‑workshop materials for final consideration. No financial commitment was authorized at the July 15 meeting. The publisher said the magazine is locally produced and distributed to selected neighborhoods and that additional distribution into downtown and visitor centers was planned if the partnership moves forward.