Today, the Birmingham City Council approved a contract with The Birmingham News to publish the city’s legal advertising at $23.10 per column inch.

The decision to approve the contract comes a week after an auto-dialer push-poll asked Birmingham residents whether they believed that smaller newspapers should get city advertising business or if they agreed with City Councilor Roderick Royal, who has supported the News.

The council had tabled the item twice already at Mayor Langford’s request. Beginning last fall, Mayor Langford has been at odds with the city’s daily newspaper, having accosted the editor and the publisher.

Langford was absent from the council chambers when the council approved the contract. However, Chief of Staff Deborah Vance said that the city needed to have a contract in place, while the legal department waits on an opinion from the Alabama Attorney General regarding the advertising requirements. The city has asked the Attorney General’s office whether it can publish legal advertisements on the Internet rather than in print newspapers.

Councilor Roderick Royal asked why the city seeks out opinions from the Attorney General’s office while it dismisses others as mere opinions.