A CHARTER ORDINANCE
EXEMPTING THE CITY OF WHITEWATER, KANSAS FROM THE PROVISIONS OF K.S.A. 12-1651,
PROVIDING SUBSTITUTE PROVISIONS REGARDING THE DESIGNATION OF THE OFFICIAL CITY
NEWSPAPER.
WHERAS, the City of
Whitewater, Kansas (the “City”), is a city of the third class duly organized
and existing under the laws of the State of Kansas; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to
Article 12, Section 5, of the Constitution of the State of Kansas, Cities are
empowered to determine their local affairs and government except for the legislative
enactments applicable uniformly to all cities; and
WHEREAS, K.S.A. 12-1651
applies to the City, and its provisions are not uniformly applicable to all
cities in that K.S.A. 12-1651 and to provide of the second and third class; and
WHEREAS, the Governing
Body of the City hereby determines that it is in the best interest of the City
to exempt the City from K.S.A. 12-1651 and to provide substitute provisions for
such stature; and
WHEREAS, the City finds
it necessary and advisable to create substitute and additional provisions
relating to the designation of the official city newspaper.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
ORDAINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF WHITEWATER, KANSAS:
SECTION 1. The City, by
virtue of the powers vested in it by Article 12, Section 5, of the Constitution
of the State of Kansas, hereby elects to exempt itself from and hereby make inapplicable
to it the provisions of K.S.A. 12-1651. Such referenced provision is applicable
to the City but is part of enactments not uniformly applicable to all cities
and the City finds and determines it necessary and advisable to provide
substitute provisions as set forth herein.
SECTION 2. By virtue of
the powers vested in it by Article 12, Section 5 of the Constitution of the
State of Kansas, the City hereby enacts the following substitute and additional
provisions of K.S.A. 12-1651 to read as follows:
Official Newspaper or
Website.
The Governing Body of
the City shall designate by resolution from time to time an official city
newspaper that meets one of the qualifications set forth below. Once designated
the publication method shall be the official city newspaper by resolution.
(a) The newspaper selected as the official city
newspaper may be a printed newspaper which has the following qualifications:
(i) It must be published at least weekly 50 times each year and have been so
published for at least one year prior to the publication of any official city
publication; (ii) It must be entered at the post office of publication as
second class mail matter; (iii) More than 50% of the circulation must be sold
to the subscribers either on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis; and (iv)
It shall have general paid circulation on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly
basis in the county and shall not be a trade, religious or fraternal
publication;
Or
(b) In the alternative, the official city
newspaper may be a designated website which has the following qualification:
(i) It must be a public website available to users at all time, except during
the website maintenance as reasonably determined necessary by the City Clerk;
(ii) The published document must be easily accessible from the City’s website
home page (www.https://whitewaterks.gov/); (iii) It must be available to
website users free of charge; and (iv) All current notices and unrepealed
ordinances uploaded to the website for publication shall be uploaded in their
entirety during any period they are in effect.
(01-26-2026)