DELHI - Delaware County supervisors on Wednesday, Jan. 7, approved a resolution designating the county’s official newspapers for 2026, following dissent from Hamden Supervisor Wayne Marshfield and Delhi Supervisor Maya Boukai, against the backdrop of ongoing litigation over a prior newspaper designation.
By resolution, supervisors named the Hancock Herald and the Mountain Eagle as the county’s official newspapers pursuant to County Law §214(2), which requires counties to designate print outlets for the publication of local laws, legal notices, and other matters mandated by law.
The resolution had been advanced to the full board earlier in December by the Legislative Committee, chaired by Roxbury Supervisor Allen Hinkley, after a unanimous committee vote. That recommendation departed from a longstanding county practice of designating official newspapers based on recommendations from the county Democratic and Republican committees.
Prior to a vote on the resolution Molé designated The Reporter as the Democrats’ choice for political canvassing and election notice; and the Hancock Herald as the Republican paper.
Prior to the vote for official newspapers of record for legal notices, Marshfield raised objections: “I think The Reporter should be one of the two, or one of three [designated official newspapers],” he said, “because their coverage is equal to both these [Hancock Herald and Mountain Eagle] put together, and I think on behalf of our constituency and our people in Delaware County, they would be a better service for our county.”
Background and
Ongoing Litigation
In prior years, Delaware County designated an official newspaper based on the recommendations of the county’s political committees. In 2024, however, the board adopted a separate resolution designating newspapers specifically for political notices - a step that had not previously been taken. Under that action, the Hancock Herald was designated for Republican Party notices and The Reporter for Democratic Party notices.
In September 2025, the Delaware County Democratic Committee formally requested that The Reporter be designated for all public notices. That request was not adopted. Instead, the Legislature Committee advanced the December resolution naming the Hancock Herald and the Mountain Eagle for 2026.
The vote comes as the county continues to defend itself in federal court following a lawsuit filed by Decker Advertising, parent company of The Reporter, after it was de-designated as an official county newspaper in March 2022. The lawsuit was filed in December 2023. In a Feb. 24, 2025 decision, a federal judge denied Delaware County’s efforts to dismiss The Reporter’s First Amendment retaliation suit, allowing both the de-designation claim and a claim concerning an alleged gag directive prohibiting employees from speaking to the press to move forward.
In that decision, the court held that removing The Reporter from its role as an official county newspaper was comparable to terminating a contractor’s relationship with the government - an action courts have repeatedly found capable of supporting a retaliation claim. The ruling did not determine whether retaliation occurred, but rejected the county’s argument that the de-designation could not, as a matter of law, qualify as an adverse action.
The Reporter and certain Delaware County defendants have each filed motions for partial summary judgment, seeking to resolve certain claims in advance of trial.
The lawsuit was not discussed during Wednesday’s meeting.
Of the vote, Delaware County Democratic Chairperson Kathleen Hayek said, “The Reporter has a wider circulation and more thorough news coverage of Delaware County than any other local newspaper. Its offices are in Delhi, the county seat. Its legal notices are available on an online searchable database. It has won awards for professional excellence.”
She added, “Using The Reporter as the newspaper for county notices and other business makes good practical sense - so why has our choice been ignored? Why does the Board of Supervisors insist on hiding its public notices from the majority of its citizens?”
Transparency and access are key, she continued.
“Delaware County residents deserve to have convenient access to Board of Supervisors notices so that we can be informed on local civic, legal, and business affairs.”
She urges everyone to contact their town supervisor and ask that they support the Delaware County Democratic Committee’s choice of The Reporter as a newspaper of record for Delaware County.
With the vote, the Hancock Herald and the Mountain Eagle will serve as Delaware County’s official newspapers for the 2026 calendar year, unless the designation is altered by future board action or court order.
