Sunday, March 16, 2025
AZLE — In a rollercoaster of a month, the Tri-County Reporter was ousted as Azle’s official paper only to be re-crowned at the following city council meeting.
The city of Azle was forced to select a new paper of record February in light of the Tri-County Reporter’s planned shuttering. In its search, city staff selected the Commercial Recorder in Fort Worth to take on the mantle of the city’s official paper.
The Texas Local Government Code states that the governing bodies of municipalities must select an official newspaper to host the city’s legal notices. Some operations, like the Fort Worth Commercial Recorder, specialize in fulfilling this requirement for cities without providing news coverage. Azle City Manager Tom Muir said the Recorder has the benefit of posting multiple times per week. Notably, the Star Telegram was not selected due to its higher costs for the city.
During the public comments section at the Feb. 18 Azle City Council meeting area resident Jim Kirk raised concerns about the city’s selection of the Commercial Recorder as its new paper of record.
“What little research I've been able to do to understand about it is it just handles legal notices,” Kirk said. “It doesn't handle local news or in any way show local happenings in Azle. In fact, you can only get it at municipal buildings in Tarrant County.”
Kirk advocated for considering the Weatherford Democrat instead, arguing that it was a more locally engaged publication. Kirk spoke with publisher Lisa Chappell who said no city officials had approached the Democrat about becoming Azle’s official newspaper. The Weatherford Democrat, Kirk gathered from the conversation, was already slated to become the official paper of Springtown and Reno.
Kirk also took a moment to acknowledge the temporary loss of the former — and now forthcoming — Azle News and Springtown Epigraph for their long service to the community. He suggested the city formally recognize the publication and its staff at a future council meeting. Fortunately for Kirk and other subscribers, their local newspapers are again here to stay.
After the announcement was made in late February that the Tri-County Reporter will stay open under the ownership of Burtnett Media Holdings LLC and will transition back to The Azle News and The Springtown Epigraph, the council reversed its decision in a March 4 meeting. Muir and council members expressed relief to know the paper will not be ceasing production.
“We fully support the Tri-County Reporter and The Azle News,” Muir said. “Publishing once a week is really a hassle but we've been dealing with it, so we can continue to deal with it … It is a good thing it’s coming back. I think for the community it would have been a sad thing to see, to see it not be here. A lot of people take it for granted and I’m one of those. I just always thought it was going to be here but it would be a shame if it wasn’t.”
Springtown and Reno have since indicated that they will also stick with the Tri-County Reporter/Springtown Epigraph as their paper of record. In a Feb. 18 meeting, the city of Lake Worth selected the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as its official paper of record and have not yet indicated if they might switch back.
