By Luke Fischer

I’ll never forget my first professional interaction with local newspapers. It was 2010 and I had been named the new city administrator in Watertown. I was excited and nervous to talk with the reporters. Two newspapers — my hometown paper, the Delano Herald Journal, and the Carver County News — each covered the move I was making from intern in Delano to city administrator in Watertown, and both stories were published on the front pages.

Looking back, the coverage was a little milquetoast. Something along the lines of, “local guy makes a predictable move,” with a little background on who I was. But on my first day in my new gig, the local Chamber of Commerce president showed up at City Hall and said, “I read about you in the paper and I’m here to welcome you to Watertown!” I wonder if that kind of greeting would happen today.

Maybe you’ve heard the news — or maybe you haven’t. That’s because there are fewer local newspapers in communities across the country than ever before. A recent report by Axios tells a bleak story. Perhaps as many as one-third of local papers existing 20 years ago will be gone by the end of this year. That’s a problem for cities across the state.

At a recent meeting with city leaders in the Brainerd lakes area, one city council member took on the issue directly. With the myriad of bad bills focused on limiting local decision making at the Legislature this past session, the councilor lamented that the public had little awareness of how this legislation would impact decades-long work in the community. He talked about losing the local newspaper a couple of years ago, and how much harder it was to keep people informed and engaged.

Beyond keeping the public informed about important decisions made at city hall, local newspapers helped connect us to one another on a personal level. Papers conveyed a certain amount of humanity that brought folks closer together. Alongside a story about replacing a bridge, you’d maybe find something about an Eagle Scout project in the works or a story about someone celebrating their 100th birthday.

It’s likely that local newspapers will continue to close, and few will be revived. So, what can we do to keep the public informed and hold our communities together?

Meet your residents where they are. Chances are good you know where to go in your community when you want the scoop on something that’s happening. If you’re not sure where people are getting their information, it is OK to ask residents where they’re hearing things. As you identify those venues, look for opportunities to share information about what’s impacting the community.

Socialize decision-making processes. As mundane as it may have seemed at the time, one of the things newspapers did well was describe the local government decision-making process. It gave people insight into the who, what, where, and why of city council business. If someone had an opinion, they knew who to talk to, when the meeting was going to happen, and where to show up. For a decision to hold up to scrutiny, it’s essential that people know how it was made — and their role as members of the public.

Make it personal. Just like newspapers covered the human-interest pieces that connected us, it is key for local leaders to humanize the work they’re doing.

Talk about the big job the park maintenance crew has in keeping the ballfields in prime condition for the tournament, share a little about the retiring firefighter and the number of calls she made, and connect the watermain break to the workers that jumped in the hole to fix it in the middle of the night. Those stories help people understand all it takes to make a city happen.

When I think about the Delano Herald Journal and Carver County News, I now realize how lucky I was in my early career to have weekly newspapers covering every city council meeting, chamber gathering, and school event. It made it easier for the community to have shared stories about who we were and what was going on. I think we’ve lost that sense of connection in a lot of places, but it’s something we all yearn for. When it comes to city business, there is a void in many communities — and it’s one that we can help to fill.

Luke Fischer is executive director of the League of Minnesota Cities. Contact: [email protected] or (651) 281-1279.