SACO — Newspaper officials have urged those with concerns regarding newspaper delivery to keep the lines of communication open.

A discussion was held Monday night at a city council workshop regarding a complaint from a resident that local weekly newspapers delivered in the city that were abandoned and unread were not being picked up by the newspaper, and old newspapers and bags were littering the streets.

Representatives from Mainely Media and the Journal Tribune, which both publish and distribute a free weekly paper, were on hand at the meeting to talk with city officials.

Councilor Nathan Johnston said as an experiment, he didn’t pick up the free newspapers at the end of his downtown residence for 12 weeks, and the newspapers piled up.

Johnston said he has seen abandoned newspapers at his neighbors, and at apartment complexes.

“They’re chucking them wherever, They’re not even getting into the driveways,” he said.

Councilor Kevin Roche said he did a similar experiment at work, and found newspapers piling up. Roche suggested that newspaper carriers take note when there are unread newspapers along their route.

Bob Welch, circulation manager at the Journal Tribune, said the carriers deliver at night, and it may be too dark to see abandoned papers.

“As you might imagine, spring is difficult,” said Journal Tribune Publisher Bruce Hardina. He said papers get buried in snow, and begin to emerge when the snow melts. Hardina also noted that high winds may blow newspapers off people’s driveways.

Between the Journal and the Courier, there are now staff picking up abandoned newspapers from both publications five days a week, said Hardina.

“Once we saw that it was a real problem, we ramped up the staff,” he said.

Johnston said after the city emailed the Journal Tribune and Mainely Media, the newspapers were picked up.

David Clark, general manager for Mainely Media, along with management from the Journal Tribune, urged city officials to call if there were any problems.

Clark said if there was an issue, they needed to hear about it in order to solve it, and “if somebody’s just doing an experiment,” they wouldn’t know what the problem was.

“A lot of it has to do with feedback,” Clark said. “Just call us, and we’ll take care of it. We’ll do the best we can.”

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.