The Mower County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 with Commissioner Jerry Reinartz dissenting to support a lobbying effort to have state legislators pass a law allowing counties to only post legal notices on their websites instead of an official newspaper.

County Coordinator Craig Oscarson told the board the measure would give counties the option to only post legal information, such as meeting minutes, on the official county web sites, but some counties could continue to print legal information in newspapers.

Reinartz voiced his opposition to the measure, saying many areas in Minnesota have older populations who don’t use the Internet to check out county websites.

“If we stopped publishing in the newspaper, it could have a disastrous effect,” he said.

The county spends about $20,000 to $25,000 each year on legal notices. The Austin Daily Herald is the official newspaper of Mower County.