The Illinois Press Association (IPA) is excited to introduce its new platform for placing public notices, known as PlaceIT.io. The IPA Board unanimously endorsed the development of this portal, with the intention of streamlining the procedures involved in designing, creating, publishing, and uploading public notices nationwide.

In light of this, a pertinent question can be asked. Why is a new solution necessary? The reality is, the current systems for public notices have proven to be either difficult to use or costly to publish, with expenses sometimes reaching as high as 10% or more of the notice's total cost. This has led to increased spending for both government entities and users of the service. Additionally, the providers of these systems have created a divide between independent publishers and their longstanding clients.

Interestingly, the motivation behind addressing this issue stems not only from Illinois but also from the broader concerns of IPA's partners. The IPA has collaborated with numerous state press associations that have utilized the original state-wide platform, PublicNoticeIllinois.com, since its inception in 2011. This platform allowed all public notices within a state to be uploaded to a single website, reducing the need for government bodies to host notices on their individual sites. These partner associations include the Alabama Press Association, Georgia Press Association, Hoosier Press Association, Massachusetts Newspaper Publisher Association, Minnesota Newspaper Association, Mississippi Press Association, Missouri Press Association, Nebraska Press Association, Nevada Press Association, New Jersey Press Association, North Carolina Press Association, Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, South Carolina Press Association, Tennessee Press Association, Utah Press Association, Virginia Press Association, and Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

PlaceIT.io represents the next phase of modernizing the process of creating and placing public notices.

• It employs a newspaper-specific, template-based approach, enabling users to select, complete, and place public notices for publication.
• The system can generate a tear sheet and an affidavit of publication.
• It upholds the fundamental principles that make newspapers the optimal location for public notices.
• Retaining notices is published by an impartial third party, ensuring accessibility and archivability.
• PlaceIT.io places independent newspapers at the forefront of publishing and distributing public notices.

Similar to PublicNoticeIllinois and its partner platforms, PlaceIT.io is committed to the notion that public notices should be uploaded to a website, maximizing their availability to the public without incurring additional costs for the government entities posting the notices.

During the establishment of PublicNoticeIllinois.com, concerns were raised by some members of the General Assembly in Illinois about the potential financial burden on local public bodies for uploading and storing these notices. The IPA collaborated with the General Assembly to include language in the appropriate statute, mandating that notices must be uploaded to a state-wide website "at no additional cost to government." Newspapers embraced and adopted this philosophy, and through a nominal upload fee, they established and maintained the state-wide website. This approach stands in stark contrast to other third-party methods that result in extra expenses for government bodies posting the notices.

PlaceIT.io was developed by the PlaceIT team, which includes staff from IPA and Ninestars Information Technologies. Collaboration over a year and a half has now brought us the future of public notice placement.

For inquiries about PlaceIT.io, individuals can reach out to Ron Kline (rkline@illinoispress.org) or to one of our partner state associations.