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With economic concerns in the backs of their minds, four Jackson City Council members picked a lifelong banker who is also a planning commissioner to finish the rest of former Mayor Drew Stidger's term.

Stidger resigned last month after being promoted to lieutenant with the Amador County Sheriff's Office, leaving an opening on the five-member council. Stidger's term was set to run through the upcoming November presidential election.

On Monday, Stidger's former colleagues presented him with a plaque and gavel of his own, because "he was always so good with it," according to Mayor RosaLee Pryor-Escamilla.

The council then turned to selecting Stidger's replacement from a pool of seven Jackson residents, all of whom presented their cases to the council and public during a Jan. 7 meeting.

The plan was to take care of business with all members present. There was, however, one hitch. After voting Planning Commissioner Wayne Garibaldi into his council seat, Pryor-Escamilla had to explain that the new council member would not be available to accept the job until he returned from vacation Wednesday.

Following last month's resignation of Stidger, the four remaining members of the city council faced a difficult choice at Monday's meeting. From a list of seven applicants, Garibaldi was selected from a group that included another planning commissioner, a former councilwoman, local merchants and involved residents.

Council members had high praise for the entire slate of candidates, many of whom were chosen to serve on committees formed later at Monday's meeting.

When outlining her criteria for choosing among the candidates, Pryor-Escamilla included words like, "team player, articulate, innovative, educated and, of some importance, time in the community."

Raised in Jackson, Garibaldi was a "Fighting Tiger" at what was then called Jackson High School and valedictorian of the class of 1973. He left the county to get a college education and a bit of work experience, but came back to his hometown where he became a founding employee of Bank of Amador. And money is what's at the core of Jackson's problems.

Jackson is presently faced with a number of daunting situations. Martell's nearby auto mall removed Prospect Motors and Amador Toyota from the city's tax base. The Amador Ridge Shopping Center in Martell took Safeway, Placer Title and First American Title up the hill and out of town. Large chain operations like Lowe's, Staples and PetCo have added to the power of Martell's still-growing business park, pulling increasing numbers of customers out of Jackson.

Compounding the losses to Martell, another drain plug is about to be pulled to the east. It is the specter of a cut-rate gas station at the Dalton Road entrance to the Jackson Rancheria Casino, Hotel and Conference Center on Highway 88, the latest addition to the sovereign enterprise that includes numerous restaurants and the casino itself.

Recognizing the immediacy of its difficulties, nearly 70 Jackson residents turned out to an economic development workshop last week, expressing the need for new ideas. At the meeting Monday, the council quickly moved through the formation of an economic development committee to be headed by Councilwoman Connie Gonsalves and Garibaldi, selecting all nine to the committee who applied, including council candidates Kam Merzlak and Marilyn Lewis. Historic Jackson Business Association President Toni Fancher was also among the individuals selected to the committee.

Sharon Cassella, owner of JB's Awards & Engraving on Main Street, said it would be important to have a good mix of merchants on the committee.

"It's just a matter of knowing how to support a small town," she said. "You have to have a small town mentality."

Amador Community Foundation Director Shannon Lowery, who led the workshop, is in the process of summarizing the ideas suggested by attendees last week.

Someone who hasn't bought into all the downtown gloom and doom is Cassella. She didn't attend last week's workshop because of a family commitment, but said a lot of the businesses that closed in the past year were long-time operations whose owners simply retired. As for the economic struggles of some downtown merchants, Cassella said its a trend that resurfaces every decade. "This is the third time I've seen it," the 35-year business owner said.

Gonsalves had a lot to say about the economic development committee assignment. "The city of Jackson situation is a county-wide problem now," she said. "Other committees, necessary as they are, don't seem as vitally important as economic development."

It's become so important that the subject of economic development will be a standing item on each city council agenda.

Raheem Hosseini contributed to this report.