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Seven public hearings postponed after county newspaper's certification lapses
Summary
Staff told the planning commission that the county's legal-advertising newspaper lost its certification in May, invalidating recent public-hearing advertisements; the commission removed the hearings from tonight's agenda and agreed to re-advertise and reschedule them for July.
Fluvanna County planning staff told commissioners June 9 that the county's usual paper of record had an expired certification, making legal advertisements run after May 8 invalid and preventing the seven public hearings scheduled for the night from proceeding.
"Yesterday, county staff learned that the paper of record is at the moment not certified as a paper of record to publish legal advertisements and public notices," Director Fortune said. He said the paper's certification expired May 8 and that the county is working with the press association and counsel to get the paper recertified. In the meantime the county will re-advertise the affected hearings in a certified paper (the Daily Progress) and reschedule those matters for the July 7 planning commission meeting.
Because the notices were not legally valid, the commission adopted the agenda with all public hearings removed. Commissioner Dorsey moved to adopt the agenda with the hearings removed; the motion was seconded by another member and adopted without recorded opposition.
Fortune said staff will re-advertise the seven items and noted the county is also pursuing alternative notifications (website postings and front bulletin-board notices) and will explore placing a brief community notice in local publications. He said the county is engaging counsel and the press association to address recertification.
Next steps: Staff will re-advertise the seven public hearings in a certified paper and place the items on the July 7 agenda; the county will use website and bulletin-board notices in the interim.
