JACKSON, Wyo. — The Town of Jackson (TOJ) announced on Friday, Jan. 24, that Town Council has appointed a fifth member to fill its vacant seat: Alyson Spery.
Spery, a filmmaker, was selected from a pool of 17 applicants that included former councilmembers. She will finish out the remaining two years of Mayor Arne Jorgensen’s vacated term. Jorgensen’s seat became available when he was sworn in on Jan. 6; the replacement process was completed in three weeks.
According to TOJ’s announcement, councilors voted unanimously to appoint Spery after interviewing her along with four other finalists on Thursday, Jan. 23. The statement notes that the voting councilmembers valued Spery’s “perspective from the service industry, and outreach to the Latin [sic] segment of the community.”
“I appreciated Sperry’s perspective considering changes in our community in terms of resiliency,” Jorgensen said in the statement. “She shared that homes change lives, including the reality of getting to pursue different opportunities when you have stable housing.”
In Spery’s application, (viewable here, beginning on page 161), she lists her experiences as a professional filmmaker as well as her involvement in local organizations including KHOL Radio, Womentum, Camina Conmigo (Coombs Outdoors), the Rotary Club, Elks Lodge, Hole Food Rescue, One22 Resource Center and Teton Literacy Center.
Spery writes in her application that her experience serving on the advisory board of Camina Conmigo here in Jackson, as well as a council overseen by the Gallatin County, Montana, Office of Youth Probation (to provide alternative sentencing to first-time juvenile offenders) and the board of God’s Garden (a community garden in Montana that grew produce to donate to local food banks) prepared her for the council position.
“Being a Spanish speaker, having lived in Tlaxcala, Mexico, and working with Latino coworkers all inform me,” Spery writes in her application. “So does being a woman. I believe my role as a Council member would mean serving all my constituents, and to me, that means meeting them where they are.”
Her platform also emphasizes her goal to address housing insecurity.
“Local government has charted a good path in addressing housing insecurity by diversifying its approach to the issue, but we have not yet arrived at the goal of housing 65% of the workforce in the county,” her application states. “We must continue to work towards that goal to have a sustainable and healthy local economy.”
Answering the application question about the major challenges facing the town, Spery wrote, “The challenges facing Jackson are not new: housing, transportation and ecosystem stewardship. Supporting our most vulnerable community members will always be at the top of this list. While those challenges can feel daunting, we will always have opportunities to make progress—if we commit to working together and focusing on where we agree. That is true for the community at large and for our elected officials as well. We cannot solve all of our problems overnight, but we can show up every day and keep working on them.”
In addition to its regular meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month, Council will gather for its annual retreat on Feb. 12.
