Bucyrus officials discuss ad circulars on properties and how to stop them

By Kimberly Gasuras
CCN Reporter

One of the topics at last week’s Bucyrus City Council Joint Committee meeting involved the ad circulars that are tossed into people’s yards and porches throughout the city.

While some local residents enjoy reading the ad circulars, encased in orange plastic bags, many others do not.

Kevin Myers, chair of the council’s Health and Safety Committee, said he brought the issue to Bucyrus City Law Director Rob Ratliff a few months ago.

“I know it’s a hot topic that newspaper companies like to spread their word in your front lawn or driveway or street gutter in front of your house,” Myers said.

Ratliff said that in his research on the issue, he found that areas like San Francisco and New Jersey tried to ban the ad circulars as litter, but their ordinances did not hold up to constitutional scrutiny.

“In Lexington, Kentucky, their ordinance was upheld by a circuit court as reasonable. The city made a finding that not just those ads, but any unsolicited ads, had a negative effect on the community for aesthetic purposes; for littering purposes, the impact on storm sewers and storm grates since those seem to get clogged up in them; and for public safety, if they pile up on the front walk,” Ratliff said. “The law did not prohibit those ads from being delivered to a residence, but did require they be placed on the door or a certain distance from the door. The court found that those were reasonable requirements and they are options we can look at.”

Ratliff said that some cities have created a “do not solicit” list that is content-neutral but a paperwork issue.

Ratliff said individual property owners almost have more rights to stop the delivery of ad circulars than the city does.

“Residents can contact the deliverer of certain items,” Ratliff said.

Ratliff said, in some ordinances, a resident can affix a certain distribution box designated for these types of items since they cannot be placed in a resident’s mailbox.

Ratliff said council can pass legislation to address the issue, but it will take manpower to enforce it.

Myers said that he spent approximately two hours on the phone last October with Gannett, the media company that distributes the orange-bagged ad circulars to city residents, and was finally transferred to a woman in Louisville, Kentucky.

“She did give me an email address to request that the circulars not be delivered to my residence anymore and I can say that so far, they have stopped delivering them,” Myers said.

Ratliff said Gannett does have a “do not solicit” list residents can sign up for.

While the issue was tabled by the committee and left up to property owners to find a solution, Myers has since provided contact information for residents to put a stop to the delivery of the ad circulars delivered by Gannett.

“To stop getting the orange bag delivered in your yard, driveway, sidewalk or street, contact Angie Robinson at 419-521-7368 or email her at arobinson@nncogannett.com. She simply needs your address and that you no longer wish to receive them. She told me she then forwards your address directly to the driver to stop,” Myers said.