Lawsuit seeks T’bonne School Board public notices

The Terrebonne Parish School Board’s awarding of a contract to the Tri-Parish Times authorizing it to publish public notices required by law has resulted in a lawsuit against the weekly paper by The Courier, a daily newspaper that held the contract for decades.

The suit also names the School Board, which awarded the Tri-Parish Times the contract – making it the district’s official journal – on the basis of its low bid of $2.97 per 100 words, as opposed to The Courier’s bid of $3.20 per 100 words.

The Courier’s attorneys claim in court papers that the contract violates state law, alleging that the Tri-Parish Times does not meet the criteria outlined for official publications.

The weekly paper, with paid subscriptions of 8,017, arrives at that number through a formula that attorneys for The Courier dispute. The interpretation of the law concerning official journals offered by The Courier’s attorneys differs from that employed by the Tri-Parish Times.

Specifically, The Courier alleges that the Tri-Parish Times’ subscriptions are largely free to readers, or that the mailing cost of each newspaper exceeds or comes close to the cost of producing it.

The Tri-Parish Times plans to defend against the suit. The School Board has not officially discussed it.

“As is normal in the bidding process, this one has a winner and a loser,” Tri-Parish Times publisher Darrin Guidry said in a written statement provided to both The Courier and the Tri-Parish Times in response to questions about his position on the suit. “So it comes as no surprise that the losing bidder, The Courier, is protesting the board’s recent decision.”

Courier publisher Miles Forrest deferred to the pleadings filed by its attorneys, but did voice the reason his newpaper’s parent company, Halifax Media, brought the action.

“The school board didn’t follow the law and at the end of the day that is what we are asking them to do,” Forrest said.

Forrest’s position, according to Guidry, is “a total misinterpretation of state law.”

“If The Courier’s argument was true, the law would mean a newspaper that has 10 subscribers paying $1,000 each would qualify to be the Board’s official journal, but a newspaper that has 10,000 subscribers paying $1 each would not,” Guidry’s statement reads. “This was not the intent of the law. The law was established to maintain a level of service necessary to insure the public has access to public information.”

That readers receive the weekly through the United States Postal Service rather than contract carriers, Guidry argues, only enhances the level of service.

The suit seeks a declaratory judgment – that is, a decision by a judge – that favors The Courier’s position.

It further seeks to have a judge nullify the School Board’s selection of the Tri-Parish Times as the official journal, and declaring that notifications published in the weekly are also null and void.

Guidry notes that his newspaper functions as the official journal for other entities locally, including the Houma-Terrebonne Housing Authority.

“The Tri-Parish Times is also locally-owned and operated so the money we generate is redistributed into the local community,” Guidry’s statement reads, noting that The Courier also benefits from the weekly, since he pays for its press to print his paper.