The Concerned Citizens of Jackson group wants the Jackson City Council to reimburse them for over 2200 dollars spent on opposing the Jackson Hills Project. The group spent that money creating a website and flyers to disseminate information to the public about the project.  Concerned Citizens spent that money only after the Jackson City Council approved two resolutions in November that put two measures on the June ballot.  The council rescinded those resolutions at their last meeting at the request of the developer, New Faze Development, effectively removing those measures from the ballot.  Thornton Consolo of Jackson says, “You made a commitment to the people,” and then “took it away at the last minute,” inferring that the group may not have incurred those expenses if the ballot measures would be removed.

City Attorney Andrew J. Morris announced that per the Government Code, a city council cannot spend money to support or oppose a ballot measure.  In his opinion, reimbursing Concerned Citizens of Jackson would amount to opposing the ballot measures.  Public comment reverted back to the reasons why the council rescinded those resolutions in the first place. Mayor Rosalie Pryor Escamilla reminded the public that the item on the agenda was whether or not the expenses should be reimbursed.  Several citizens then asked if the council could recommend to New Faze development to reimburse Concerned Citizens of Jackson.  The Mayor then announced that she felt the group’s actions were “premature” and that the flyers produced by the group “provides misleading and incorrect information” and is “designed to inflame” instead of providing valuable public information.  Pryor Escamilla then noted that the Environmental Impact Report was not even mentioned in the flyer. After hearing public comments and discussing the matter, the council voted unanimously to not reimburse the group for expenses incurred opposing the Jackson Hills Project.