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It’s down to five.
Shelby Read is a nonprofit consultant. Katie Wilson is an architect and serves on the town’s planning commission. Alyson Spery is a film and radio storyteller and works in services at The Wort Hotel (Spery has previously been contracted by KHOL). Scott Anderson owns a local radio station and was a town councilor and Rick Gordon, is a former educator and school director.
Each will receive interviews for an open seat on the Jackson Town Council, which has been vacant since the 2024 election when sitting councilmember Arne Jorgensen ran successfully for mayor, beating then-councilor Jessica Sell Chambers.
Two who ran unsuccessfully in 2024 and applied did not get interviews — Jessica Sell Chambers and Perri Stern.
Over the holiday weekend, town councilors combed through about 200 pages of applications, resumes and answers to a handful of their questions for 17 people.
After three hours of deliberation during a meeting on Tuesday, councilors first narrowed the field to nine, then deliberated in executive session for an hour and a half. Spery, Read and Wilson were first voted to be offered interviews, based on initial preference votes. Councilors then took a straw-poll to find a consensus for offering interviews to Anderson and Gordon.
Following the past selection process over a decade ago, the town adopted a municipal code that no more than five people could be offered interviews.
Councilor Kevin Regan said it was an opportunity to bring “new” and “compelling” voices to the table.
“Some places have a special election. That’s not how it works with the rules that we have right now and so this presents an opportunity,” he said.
Not all thought the process was transparent, however.
Earlier Tuesday, Johanna Love, editor-in-chief at the Jackson Hole News&Guide, submitted a letter objecting to the move of private deliberation in executive session.
“If the public is entrusted to vote into office a person of their choosing, they should be entitled to listen to the council’s deliberations on who the council chooses to elevate to public office,” she wrote.
Councilors all expressed gratitude for those who put their name in the hat. Devon Viehman said it was a harder decision than expected.
“I was thinking, maybe we’ll get ten if we’re lucky and there’ll be some real clear frontrunners. But there were not, this was very challenging,” she said.
Public interviews are set to start Jan 23, after which councilors are expected to deliberate privately in executive session and then appoint a new councilor by a simple majority vote.
APPLICANT ORIGINAL VOTE COUNT:
Shelby Read 4
Alyson Spery 4
Katie Wilson 4
Scott Anderson 3
Andrea Coffee 3
Amberley Baker 3
Frederic Gordon 3
Antuanett Lopez Sani 3
Gorgie Stanley 3
Josh Frappart 2
Perri Stern 2
David Hunt 1
Jessica Sell Chambers 1
Jason Fritts 0
Ben Mackay 0
Zachary Padilla 0
Katherine Rueckert 0
