Think Again! Share this Post. Share on facebook Facebook. Share on twitter Twitter. Share on linkedin LinkedIn. Join the discussion. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Please help us improve our site! No thank you. CFR prev next. Augustine St. Charles St. David St. Elmo St. Francisville St. Jacob St. Johns St. Joseph St. Providing public notice provides the opportunity for the public to influence governing bodies and allows the public to be an active participant in a democratic society.
There is a long tradition that there are four elements that mark a valid public notice. The notice must be published from an independent party, the publication must be archivable , the publication must be accessible , and the publication must be verifiable. If any one of these elements is absent, the public loses and the notice itself may be challenged. A public notice must be published in a forum independent of the government, typically in a local newspaper.
An independent and neutral third party has an economic and civic interest in ensuring that the notice delivery requirements are followed.
A public notice must be archived in a secure and publicly available format. Print newspapers have always fulfilled this element because a public notice published in a newspaper is easily archivable, and can be archived now, in several different places, formats, and without wait.
Newspapers are usually archived by the publishing company and by libraries. These archiving venues provide the public with the option to retrieve the notices for years after date of publication. The public must be able to verify that the public notice was not altered once published. In a newspaper notice, an affidavit is provided by the publisher, which can be used in an evidentiary proceeding to demonstrate that a true copy was published as well as the exact wording that was used.
Generally, citizen participation, business and commerce, and court notices are the three types of public notices. Public notices that provide information about government activities are designed to alert the public of government activities, and provide an opportunity for the public to comment on such activities. Some of these public notices include publication of government budgets, notices of public hearings, and notices of intentions to change government run or managed programs.
The concept of Due Process is based on notions of fairness, and requires governments to notify citizens against whom they plan to take action in order to allow citizens the opportunity to be heard.
Public notices that contain government requests for bids for services, purchases and other business-related activities are designed to provide businesses with the opportunity to participate in the government procurement process.
Requiring governments to publish notices calling for contract bids ensures that the government is operating in accordance with principles of equal opportunity and provides a competitive bidding process. It also allows the requesting government the opportunity to receive numerous bids, which ultimately can lead to lower costs and better service.
Public notice laws also require corporations and other business entities to publish their intention to do business in an area, which provides the public with the opportunity to either support or oppose such intentions. Also public notice alters the public when a business or corporation dissolves.
This serves to protect creditors and consumers from fraudulent practices. Public notice laws also provide notice of unclaimed property. Businesses are required to keep these items for a specified continuous time, after which such property is surrendered to the state. Most states then publish public notices describing the property in the area where the true owner was last domiciled, in order to return the property to its rightful owner.
Unclaimed property notices are some of the largest and most popular public notices that are printed. The final type of public notice consists of notices by non-governmental entities which use public powers or institutions in some way. When probating a will, attorneys must often publish a notice informing the public of the appointment of an administrator of the estate being probated.
This allows the public to object to any appointment based on conflicts of interest.
0コメント