Weston County Commissioners Select West County Gazette as Legal Newspaper for 2026

Weston County commissioners voted to accept a bid from the West County Gazette to publish the county’s legal advertisements for 2026, after hearing competing proposals from two eligible local newspapers.

The Gazette proposed a rate of $6 per column inch and provided a sample notice the commission said measured roughly 61.5 column inches for a sample cost of $369. Lisa LeVaster, identified in the submitted materials as the Gazette’s publisher and editor, included circulation details and said the paper reported 536 paid print copies, which the submission stated exceeds the statutory 500‑paid‑subscription minimum.

The Newsletter Journal, represented in its written submission by Kim Dean, managing editor, reported a higher overall distribution — the submission cited 1,523 average weekly copies with 1,208 paid print subscribers and 315 digital subscriptions — and offered a 15 percent discount to local governments. The Journal’s sample minutes totaled about 120 column inches; at the stated legal rate the submission estimated a sample cost of $1,260 before any discount.

Commissioners asked staff several practical questions about local paid circulation and suggested that rotating the designation between eligible papers in alternate years could be considered to give each title a fair chance to serve county readers. After brief discussion, a motion to accept the West County Gazette bid was made and seconded. The motion passed on a voice vote recorded in the meeting minutes; dissent was noted in the record.

Why it matters: Wyoming law sets minimum publication and distribution requirements for legal newspapers. The county’s choice determines where official notices will appear and which audiences are most likely to see them.

What’s next: The accepted bid will be used for county legal notices in 2026. The commissioners also directed staff to verify circulation statements and statutory compliance as they finalize the designation.

Quotation sources: The Gazette’s bid materials and the Journal’s submission were both read into the public record during the meeting. “I propose a bid of $6 per column inch,” appeared in the Gazette materials read to the board; the Journal materials stated the paper “publishes 52 weeks a year” and described its distribution numbers.