SALYERSVILLE – A complaint was filed in Magoffin County Circuit Court on November 17, 2021, regarding the city council member who was removed from the council earlier this month.
Colin Ray Jackson, being represented by attorney John C. Collins, filed a complaint, which was served at Salyersville City Hall this week, asked the court to rule a declaratory judgment that Jackson was not guilty of “misconduct…in the performance of the duties of his office,” noting the law is ambiguous in defining misconduct, that his statements made in the meeting that led to the vote of removal did not constitute misconduct, and that he should be reinstated to that office immediately.
The complaint named Salyersville Mayor James “Pete” Shepherd and city council member Jarrod Howard, Paul Montgomery, Pat Frazier and Darrell Arnett as defendants. Now former city council member Tex Holbrook resigned immediately prior to the vote that led to Jackson’s removal from office.
This news came into the SI office shortly before press time, so the Independent has not had a chance to comb through the full complaint, but updates to this case will be reported as they are released.
In the October 18 regular city council meeting, Jackson used a racist slur in open meeting referring to a leadership role within a group of slaves, and a public hearing was held on November 10, in which the charge was read, Jackson was able to rebut the claims and the council went into closed session. After closed session, Holbrook resigned and the rest of the council held a vote, unanimously voting to remove Jackson from office. The vote had to be unanimous to remove a council member from office, per state laws, and any abstaining votes would have been counted as a vote with the majority.
