Name: Dave Butow 

Age: 70

Occupation: Jackson planning commissioner

What is the best long-term strategy to revitalize Jackson's economy?

The city is constricted by its current city limits. It needs to expand so that it has sufficient useable land to locate light and service industries. In order to do this, the proposed General Plan Land Use Element needs to add an expanded sphere of influence to the extent of its water service and fire protection areas currently in place. In the SOI, parcels need to be designated for use for these types of industries. When this is completed, the city then needs to actively market itself as a place where you have a "small town atmosphere" with the ability to provide the needs and services of more metropolitan areas.

What do you see as the greatest threat to Jackson's character and quality of life?

Ambivalence by the elected leaders of the city and its senior staff on the problems facing the city.

What's the best decision the Jackson City Council made in 2007-08? What's the worse?

The best decision was to finally listen to the merchants on Main Street and "bag" the parking meters. This issue has been brought before the city council for as long as I've been here and has been ignored up until this year. The worst decision was to get into lawsuits with its own citizens without attempting to meditate the citizens' concerns.

Home Depot has suspended its application to build near the Argonaut and Kennedy mines in Jackson. When the company's application was submitted, critics called the plan the ultimate assault on Jackson's character and scenic beauty. Proponents of the plan claimed it would bring in needed jobs and tax dollars. Did you support Home Depot's original proposal to build near the Argonaut and Kennedy mines? Explain your position.

In the (draft environmental impact report), Home Depot suggested a secondary location at the south end of the city near Raley's. Had the application continued, I would have stated that their original site plan was inappropriate for many reasons and to go with their "Plan B" and start the EIR application based on their secondary location proposal.

Main Street merchants in Jackson now claim, almost universally, that the board of supervisors' decision to move the county courthouse away from Main Street had a devastating impact on their businesses. What can the Jackson City Council do in the future to work more cohesively with the board of supervisors in order to ensure the survival of Main Street Jackson?

The primary reason that the impact wasn't known until after the fact was the lack of communication and planning between members of the city council and our representative from District 1 on the board of supervisors prior to the move of the court facilities. Now I think that the city could work with the courts to provide a bus service through (Amador Regional Transit System) to bring court personnel and jurors into downtown Jackson to have lunch and do other shopping during their noon breaks.