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. . . . . .. should be looking at paid circulation as a tiebreaker. I think the trend today is that news is ITee now, and you are going to see more and more ITee newspapers coming out as opposed - to subscription newspapers, and that is something we need to look at in the long term... " City Attorney Schricker read the provisions of the City of Redwood City Charter, Section 90: "Contracts for advertising shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. If there are two or more lowest bids for advertising, the council shall award the contract to the newspaper having the largest paid circulation." City Attorney Schricker explained, "There is a two-pronged analysis. First, you have a lowest responsible bidder, or if you have two or more lowest responsible bidders, then you refer to the greatest paid circulation. To be qualified for the official newspaper, the paper must be adjudicated as a newspaper of general circulation. Both of these newspapers have received that designation by the court." Vice Mayor Ruskin said, "I can understand Council Member Ira being interested in looking at this ITom the perspective of what will be the circulation of the notices. I think there is an overriding concern that makes that concern not relevant to us. And that is, the 'home rule' doctrine. In cities like Redwood City, which are run by a Charter, the people of Redwood City voted on the Charter, and the laws that are governing us that are stated in the Charter take precedence over any general law. For instance, while state law might say that a city government would have a five-member council, our Charter requires a seven- member council. Our Charter takes precedence over the state law. In the same way, the Charter governs how we are to award the bid. It may be the case that the Charter needs to - be revisited, but until we revisit the Charter, to not listen to the Charter would mean to simply overturn the vote of the people that put the Charter into effect. It states very clearly, 'Contracts for advertising shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. If there are two or more lowest bids for advertising, the council shall award the contract to the newspaper having the largest paid circulation.' It is very clear to me from that reading, that what the people of Redwood City voted on when they put the Charter into effect was, the decision that circulation would not be a factor unless the two or more bids were tied. We have here one bid for $5 and one for about $8. To my mind that is an irrefutable, significant difference, and however much one might like to look at another approach to this, I think the rule of law governs. The Charter must govern, and we may want to revisit that, reanalyze it, and have a new vote, but I think the Charter is very clear in this regard." Council Memher Leipzig said, "Mr. Schricker, we have all been given a lot of information on this last year, and again this year. You have the same information that I have in front of me. There are several examples of court cases, legal opinions, that are given here. I understand the difference between a Charter city and a city of General Law. Are there any of these cases that are Charter cities, for example, San Francisco, Concord, or some of the others?" City Attorney Schricker cited two of the cases, and said, "They are General Law cities. In reference to San Francisco, I think it is an unreported Superior Court decision. San Francisco is a Charter city, but I would have to see what their Charter says on the issue." - REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 JANUARY 12, 1998 MINUTES Page No. 165 PAGE 12