RIO VISTA, Calif. — Rio Vista's City Council voted against consenting to the law firm who represents the city also working for Flannery Associates LLC, the company buying thousands of acres of land in Solano County to build a new city.
The decision comes after the law firm Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann and Girard has worked with the city for a decade, but asked city leaders to also work with Flannery Associates to help arrange and document the water supply for the project.
The controversial group secretly bought up over 50,000 acres of land since 2017 to build a new city in Solano County. The land is mostly in and around Rio Vista and Travis Air Force Base, making Flannery Associates the largest land owner in the county.
Rio Vista residents opposed any sort of arrangements because of the conflict of interest, and not seeing any benefit of giving Flannery Associates influence over the local water supply.
"Now, I want to make it clear. Ethics is different than legality. Things can be legal but unethical. Slavery was legal but it was unethical," said one Rio Vista resident and farmer during public comment.
A representative with a law firm says they brought this to city leaders because of conflict of interest in the future. But added this would be a benefit for the city as they have a familiar face to work with when speaking with Flannery Associates.
Rio Vista residents say this is another example of why they do not trust Flannery Associates, calling them "sneaky,” said Jeanne McCormack.
“Flannery acts unethically. I believe the way they have conducted themselves shows and reminds us that the ends don’t justify the means," said Aiden Mayhood, Rio Vista resident.
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