The Ellsworth Village Board voted Monday night to name The Journal as the village’s official newspaper.

That means village meeting notices, board proceedings and other legal notice postings will appear in The Journal from now on.

Legal notice publishing throughout Pierce County has become an issue since the former Pierce County Herald was merged into a Minnesota newspaper that was not certified by the state Department of Administration to run public notices in Wisconsin.

The Journal is now the official newspaper of the City of Prescott, Village of Ellsworth and the Prescott School District, as well as the designated source for public notice publication by Pierce County. It’s likely to be an item on agendas for other municipalities and school districts in coming weeks and months.

“We have nothing against any other publications,” said John McLoone, Publisher of The Journal. “We applaud all hard-working local journalists. We do, however believe that public notices for Pierce County communities and schools belong in newspapers published in Pierce County. We think that elected officials recognize that, and we know that their constituents clearly feel that way.”