Was Mount Shasta's New City Attorney Called Out for Incompetence by the Siskiyou County Civil Grand Jury?

By Anastasia Sprout | Mount Shasta Observer

Andrew is Senior Counsel with the Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC public agency advisory group. He has dedicated his practice to representing cities and government agencies since 2006. He presently serves as the City Attorney for the Cities of Yreka, Montague, and Etna.  He previously has served as City Attorney and Assistant City Attorney for the Cities of Chico (6 years) and South Pasadena (2 years), and Assistant City Attorney for the City of Pomona (13 years).  He also serves as General Counsel to the Goleta Water District.

--https://chwlaw.us/attorney-post/andrew-l-jared/

Mount Shasta Mayor Mixes Up Attorneys?

At the July 28, 2026 “Coffee with the Mayor” public forum held at Drizzle restaurant, Mayor Casey Glaubman confirmed that Andrew L. Jared was chosen by the City Council as a permanent replacement to John Kenny as the Mount Shasta City Attorney as of July 8, 2026. He then responded to concerns expressed about this choice raised by this author. The concerns centered around the belief that Jared was the City Attorney in Montague criticized in the 2026 Siskiyou County Civil Grand Jury report* on recent ethical violations in city leadership.

"Montague: A City In Chaos"

The report title and its detailed investigative report yield deep concern about Montague's functionality as a city, and contains specific references to its legal incompetence with a recommendation to replace their legal advisor:

Mayor Glaubman stated that it was actually John Kenny, the recently released Mount Shasta City Attorney, who was the advisor in Montague during the period investigated by the recent report, not Andrew Jared, and that it was Kenny referred to in the report. He also said that Andrew Jared was "brought in to teach about ethics in Montague."

However, Mayor Glaubman’s response revealed that he seemed to be operating with a mistaken impression. Multiple sources have confirmed that the Grand Jury report referenced Andrew Jared, not Kenny, and that Kenny left his role as Montague advisor due to ethical differences with Takeshi Murakami, the Montague Mayor who was the "City Officer" admonished several times in the same report.

Based on a review of City ordinances, records, meeting agendas & minutes, policies and procedures, witness interviews conducted, financial records, contracts, applicable State agency guidance and law, the Civil Grand Jury found evidence of organizational weaknesses including a City officer holding simultaneous incompatible offices and contracting with the City that warrant corrective action, a desperate need to overhaul the City Fire Department’s training and safety policies and procedures to comply with applicable State law.

This report also finds that the absence of clear structural controls and documented procedures may increase the risk of non-compliance with applicable law, operational confusion, and loss of public trust and confidence as well as public safety.

-https://www.siskiyoucounty.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/civil_grand_jury/page/3421/montague_6-23-26_final_for_judge.pdf

Mayor Glaubman has not yet responded to a July 29, 2026 email inquiry on the above discrepancy.

In a related article published July 14, 2026 in the Siskiyou County Dispatch, Skip Descant confirms Jared's employment by the city of Montague:

Andrew Jared will now serve as Mt. Shasta’s city attorney. Jared also serves as city attorney for Fort Jones, Montague and Etna. The firm also represents Weed. Jared formerly served as city attorney for Yreka. In May, the Yreka City Council replaced him with Julia A. Homaechevarria, also of Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley.

Why was Jared replaced by another attorney in Yreka?

Is Mount Shasta Facing a Lawsuit, or Suing?

A closed session the Mount Shasta City Council meeting was held on Monday, July 27th, 2026 to deliberate one item, “significant exposure to litigation against the city” in the form of two potential lawsuits:

There was no public statement following this closed meeting, which would seem to indicate no lawsuits had been filed.

Andrew Jared guided the Mount Shasta City Council at a second closed session meeting that took place on Thursday, July 30th, 2026. Apparently the two legal threats from July 27th had reduced to one...or this was a third?

A third closed session City Council meeting took place on Wednesday, August 5th at 5pm. Per the agenda,

Outcome: No new lawsuits were initiated. Following the closed session meeting with City Attorney Andrew Jared, Mayor pro tem (Vice-Mayor) Tessa Clure, serving in place of Mayor Glaubman who was on vacation, stated the Council had advised their attorney to take no action.

A fourth closed session City Council meeting was just scheduled for Monday, August 17, 2026:

For those concerned about the financial expense of legal action to the city:

The City of Mt. Shasta limits its exposure to losses from unfavorable events, employee injuries, and from the risk of damage to City property by participating with other governments in an insurance pool known as SCORE (Small Cities Organized Risk Effort). Within the SCORE program the risk of substantial monetary loss is transferred from the City to the pool, and from the pool to commercial insurance companies.

--https://www.mtshastaca.gov/finance/page/risk-management

Author's Note: If any lawsuits are filed against or by the City of Mount Shasta, this will become public record, as would the payout of any employee damage settlement agreements. Meanwhile, this Civil Grand Jury callout evokes credible concerns about whether Andrew Jared, and Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC who employ him, can successfully guide the Council and Mount Shasta City through one or more legal threats that are facing the city. Even more concerning is if Jared was released from employment in Yreka for unsatisfactory performance, as one recent source has indicated.

*More details about the Siskiyou County Civil Grand Jury report available via Siskiyou News: https://www.siskiyou.news/2026/06/25/siskiyou-county-civil-grand-jury-%ef%bd%9e-montague-a-city-in-chaos/

Article updated information as of September 8, 2026 Internet search:

The evidence is an official State of California record. The California Secretary of State's 2024 California Roster and the 2025 Roster (with a link that confusingly reads "2026") identifies Andrew Jared as the City Attorney of Montague, alongside Mayor Takeshi Murakami and the other officials central to the Grand Jury investigation.

Montague's own March 2025 City Council minutes show Andrew Jared actually functioning as the city's attorney during meetings involving the Fire Department controversy. The minutes repeatedly call him “Attorney Jared” and document him advising the council during precisely the sort of contentious governance issues subsequently examined by the Grand Jury. 

Then, in April 2026—only two months before the Grand Jury report was issued—Montague's official agenda identifies “Andrew Jared, City Attorney” as the city's negotiator in closed session.

According to an official California Public Utilities Commission document, John Kenny was the Montague City Attorney in 2022.

So Mayor Glaubman's statement was perhaps reflecting an understanding that Kenny really was Montague's city attorney at an earlier point. But Andrew Jared subsequently replaced him. By 2024, the official California Roster lists Jared, not Kenny, as Montague City Attorney.