The council shall annually let contracts for publication of legal notices and official advertisements for the ensuing fiscal year. For this purpose the city clerk shall notify by mail each newspaper of general circulation in the city, as defined by California Government Code Section 6008, that sealed bids for such publications are to be received setting forth the details of the publications contemplated to be done. Each bidder shall include with its bid a verifiable statement of both net paid circulation and net unpaid circulation of its newspaper within the city. The council may accept more than one bid for these publications in any year and the city may then utilize one or more of these approved newspapers for any such publications.
In determining which bids are lowest and best, the council shall take into consideration the circulation, publication rates, and frequency of publication.
The council shall not accept any bid at a rate higher than that regularly charged by such bidding newspaper for the same or similar publications or advertising from other customers and may reject any and all bids.
The council may, if no acceptable bid is received, adopt any other legal method for legal publications.
If there is only one newspaper of general circulation in the City, the council may contract with it without advertising for bids.
(Res. No. 75 76-77 §1, Measure E (part), Passed 3-8-77, Filed in Office of Secretary of State 5-2-77; Measure L (part), Passed 11-2-04, Filed in Office of Secretary of State 12-9-04; Res. No. 71-16 , Passed 11-8-16)