Borough to Outsource Production of Fall Newsletter

“Around Town,” the borough’s 10-year-old quarterly newsletter, will soon be getting a facelift – albeit a temporary one – thanks to a recent agreement between the borough of Emmaus and Hometown Press, Perkasie.

According to Borough Manager Craig Neely, the borough will outsource the production of its fall newsletter – the design, layout, printing and mailing – to Hometown Press in exchange for granting Hometown Press the right to solicit ads in the newsletter. There will be no charge to the borough for the production services.

The borough will still create the content for the newsletter, supplying all articles and photos to Hometown Press, and review the entire newsletter before it is mailed, Neely says. Hometown Press will handle the mailing of the newsletter as part of the arrangement, although the borough will be responsible for the actual postage costs.

Hometown Press specializes in the creation of custom municipal newsletters, according to the company Web site, and works with numerous municipalities across the country. 

Emmaus produces three full-size newsletters each year – in the fall, winter and spring – and a smaller summer issue that focuses on parks and pools – typically distributed in May. About 5,000 copies of each issue are printed.

Outsourcing the production side of the newsletter will save the borough about $10,000 a year, Neely says. 

The Borough of Emmaus has signed a one-issue contract with Hometown Press to test out the new newsletter format, Neely says. Hometown Press will produce the fall issue of "Around Town," and the borough expects Hometown Press to begin soliciting ads from local businesses in June. 

The summer issue, due to hit the streets in May, will be produced by borough staffers. 

“The fall newsletter is going to be very different,” Neely says. “Right now, it’s purely informational. (When Hometown Press produces it), it will be larger, more of a magazine style, with larger, glossy pages.  There will be drastic differences. 

“We’ve retained them to do one to test it out. Over the years we’ve come to use the newsletter as a very important means of communicating with the public. It was an issue in the decision-making process as to whether the change would cause people not to read the newsletter as thoroughly because people will be distracted by the ads,” Neely says. 

Neely says the borough is interested in getting feedback from residents on the fall newsletter before determining whether to extend the one-issue contract with Hometown Press.