Dexter Township Retains Heritage Media as 'Newspaper of Record'

After three months of investigation, the Dexter Township Board of Trustees has decided to stick with the township's current newspaper of record, board members announced at their meeting Tuesday.

The board voted 6-0, with Trustee Stephen Feinman absent, to continue publishing legal township notices and meeting minutes in the Dexter Leader and Chelsea Standard. The publications are part of a conglomerate of weekly community newspapers operated by Heritage Media.

Robert Nester, owner of the Sun Times — a community newspaper based in Stockbridge — , citing greater exposure to local residents and cheaper rates for legal notices.

In a memo to the board, Township Clerk Harley Rider said he provided both publishers with a legal notice for a cost estimate in September and determined that Heritage rates were significantly cheaper. In a comparison study, font readability and easy paragraph identification were also key components in the Heritage ad, he said.

Trustee Libby Brushaber said she was not impressed with the design layout of the Sun Times, citing too many ads next to stories and cluttered pages. 

Township Supervisor Pat Kelley agreed.

"The only thing the Sun Times has going for it over other newspapers is that it's delivered for free to all of the township’s 2,500 households weekly and is more readily accessible to readers," she said.

The Sun Times announced a cooperative relationship with Ann Arbor.com in June, increasing its circulation from 17,000 to 30,000 in the area.

The board agreed to revisit the decision in a future meeting after Trustee Carl Lesser requested time to talk with constituents on their newspaper preference.