Pecatonica Valley Leader keeps ‘The Official Newspaper of the Lafayette County’ title one more year
At the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors regular meeting on Tuesday, May 19, the board approved the Pecatonica Valley Leader as the official newspaper for the county for one more year, with a vote of 10-6.
Both the Pecatonica Valley Leader and the Republican Journal had representation at the meeting. The resolution the committee were approving was to approve the Republican Journal as the official county newspaper. This resolution came from the Buildings and Insurance Committee meeting, where the vote to approve the Republican Journal passed 3-1 with District #2 Supervisor Mark Pinch against.
The Pecatonica Valley Leader was represented by editor Kayla Barnes and ads/sales manager Shelly Reilly- Roh. The Republican Journal was represented by Grant County Herald Independent editor David Timmerman. Both Barnes and Timmerman spoke about their newspapers and coverages. The county switched the official newspaper to the Pecatonica Valley Leader newspaper in June 2025 due to the lack of coverage held in the Republican Journal, after the retirement of the late Brian Lund in June 2024, who was the publisher at the Republican Journal since 1983.
Supervisors pictured are (l-r) – front row: Bob Boyle, Jack Sauer, Lee Gill and Emmett Reilly; second row: John Reichling, Carmen McDonald, Larry Ludlum, and Donna Flannery; third row: Scott Pedley, David Halloran, Joe Schutte, and Jeff Berget; back row: Luke McGuire, Mark Pinch, Gary Benson and Jed Gant.
The Pecatonica Valley Leader began covering the board meetings in November 2024. Barnes was the previous editor for the Republican Journal before starting at the Pecatonica Valley Leader in June 2022 and covered the county board meetings during her seven years working at the Republican Journal.
Many board members concerns with having the Republican Journal as the official newspaper were due to the lack of coverage when Lund retired. Timmerman was adamant that there would be coverage of the county and he would see to it that the county would be represented in the newspaper.
District #15 Supervisor Scott Pedley asked how do the newspapers compare to one another in how much the county spends putting legal notices, ads, etc in them. Conservation, Planning & Zoning Manager Erica Sauer stated that the Planning and Zoning publish notices in the newspaper and it costs 50 percent less to post said notices in the Pecatonica Valley Leader. Legal notices are set by the state. For the Pecatonica Valley Leader, the first line is around $0.79. The Republican Journal is around $0.69.
District #1 Supervisor Larry Ludlum stated that he always has an obligation to support what the committees recommend but he said due to his location and his personal experiences, he no longer subscribes to the Republican Journal. He is a subscriber to the Platteville Journal and stated that the same news in that newspaper shows up in the Republican Journal the next week. Both newspapers, along with the Grant County Herald Independent, Boscobel Dial, Richland Observer, Tri County Press, Fennimore Times, and Crawford County Independent, are all owned by the Morris Multi- Media Company out of Georgia. The Pecatonica Valley Leader, Dodgeville Chronicle and the Mineral Point Democrat Tribune are owned by Pat and Mike Reilly of Dodgeville.
“The Republican Journal is just isn’t getting the coverage that I’d like to see,” Ludlum stated.
District #9 Supervisor Joe Schutte made the motion to amend the original motion to replace the Republican Journal’s name with the Pecatonica Valley Leader. Supervisor Reilly seconded the motion.
District #16 Supervisor David Halloran asked if there was anywhere that stated they couldn’t have co-official newspapers. Corporation council Laine Carver stated the county doesn’t need to officially designate a newspaper as the county newspaper but needs to designate a newspaper in which to have their legal notices printed. District #5 Supervisor Luke McGuire mentioned that the county did use both newspaper to print notices last year.
The amendment vote was cast orally, which passed 9-7 with John Reichling, Jeff Berget, Bob Boyle, Carmen McDonald, Lee Gill, Scott Pedley, and David Halloran voting against.
Supervisor Pedley commented that the Pecatonica Valley Leader had a year to establish a more broad distribution into the county and didn’t. Supervisor McGuire felt that a couple months of the Republican Journal coming back and covering the county board didn’t mean they should get it back. Supervisor Boyle liked to see the competition and that both newspaper support each other and make each other better. It was asked if the Pecatonica Valley Leader was going to be getting their newspapers out into the county and the answer was yes. The locations have not been confirmed but in the very near future the newspaper will be available throughout the county.
“I don’t think the Leader has done enough wrong to not give them another chance,” District #8 Supervisor Jed Gant said.
The motion was then cast to have the Pecatonica Valley Leader newspaper as the official newspaper with Carmen McDonald changing her vote, making the vote 10-6 approving the Pecatonica Valley Leader as the newspaper.
Action items
The board also approved:
– Resolution 3-26, merging the Lafayette County Commission on Aging and ADRC governing boards. The new board will be called the Lafayette County ADRCAdvisory Committee and will have seven members appointed by the County Board Chair.
– Resolution 1-26, creation of a revenue cycle lead position at Lafayette Hospital + Clinics. The assumed fiscal impact for the position hired in 2026 is the maximum of $105,000 depending on the starting wage and insurance choice and will be covered by LHC revenue and not affect the tax levy. This position was not included in the 2026 budget. This position will help LHC be proactive to any denials to insurance, managing billing, coding and ensuring compliance with regulations and final payment reconciliation.
– Resolution 4-26, designating juvenile court intake function to Lafayette County Human Services.
– Resolution 5-26, land use change in the town of Gratiot by Jeff and Mary Moore.
– Resolution 6-26, approving applying for and accepting a grant from the State relative to cleaning up agricultural and household chemicals. The requested $10,000 will be included in the 2027 Land Conservation budget. Clean Sweep is hoping to take place in Lafayette County sometime in August. Iowa County is hoping to have theirs in September, and Grant County is hoping for October. People are able to go over county lines if they aren’t able to make it to a specific date.
– Resolution 7-26, updating Chapter 8, Section 2: All-terrain vehicle and utility-terrain vehicle road route ordinance. Changes made state that, “No person under the age of 16 may operate an ATV/UTV on any designated route; provided, however, that a person between the ages of 12 and 15 possessing a valid state-issued Safety Certificate and is accompanied by a person 18 years of age or oder possessing a valid stateissued Safety Certificate may operate an ATV on a designated route that is a detour for a closure that has occurred on the Cheese Country Trail or Pecatonica State Trail”. This was brought up due to the numerous bridge closures on Cheese Country Trail and causing the county to do road route work arounds. Existing ordinance did not match state regulations.
