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Cranston council votes to allow online publication for special‑meeting notices amid local paper concerns
Summary
The Cranston City Council amended its special‑meeting notice ordinance to permit posting in an online edition of a newspaper and on the city website to enable 48‑hour special meetings; Beacon Media's publisher warned the change could reduce notice for residents without internet access and cut revenue for small local papers.
The Cranston City Council on Nov. 6 amended city code so special‑meeting notices may be published in an online version of a newspaper of general circulation and posted on the city’s official website, a change the sponsor said would allow legally required 48‑hour special meetings to be publicized more quickly.
Council President Wahl proposed the language after consulting the local paper’s editor and city legal counsel; the council voted to amend and adopt the ordinance at the meeting. Wahl said the amendment is intended as a compromise to balance legal notice requirements with the practical limits of weekly print publication schedules.
Joy Fox, publisher of Beacon Media (publisher of the Cranston Herald), told the council she supports transparency but raised questions about the ordinance’s provenance and warned that removing print‑only notice requirements could disenfranchise residents who lack internet access. Fox also noted potential revenue loss for small newspapers and asked the council to preserve broad notice obligations.
A resident who spoke during public comment asked the council to be “data‑driven” about where residents learn about meetings and suggested any pilot should be explicit in the ordinance language. Council members said the printed paper remains a valued local resource and that the amendment specifically targets special meetings (48‑hour notices), not routine notices.
The council’s change requires the online notice to contain the same information as the written notice and to be posted on the city website. Sponsors and several councilors described the measure as preserving notice content while modernizing the medium for time‑sensitive meetings. The ordinance was adopted by recorded roll call.
The council did not remove other notice channels at this meeting; councilors asked the city clerk and legal staff to ensure vulnerable residents are considered in any future implementation steps.
