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GRANTS PASS Grants Pass takes on copycat Internet addresses Comment By Jules Rogers Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Jules Rogers Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Dec. 16, 2015 at 8:12 PM By Jules Rogers Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Dec. 16, 2015 at 8:12 PM » Social News Grants Pass city officials are considering legal options to stop marketing consultant Toni Webb from using a website and Facebook page that have similar URLs, or internet addresses, to the city's official pages. Webb is a three-time candidate for the Josephine County Board of Commissioners who has been critical of economic development efforts at both the city and the county level. Recently, she started a nonprofit organization that appears to be in competition with Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., the development agency that is underwritten in part by the city and the county. She maintains her websites are used for legitimate purposes, such as opposing the recently defeated sales tax proposal. But city officials are concerned that Webb's site GrantsPassOregon.com and her Facebook page Travel Grants Pass are confusing for citizens and tourists, who could easily mix up her sites with the city's official pages — GrantsPassOregon.gov , TravelGrantsPass.com and Facebook.com/Experience.Grants .Pass. "TravelGrantsPass.com is our website, and the Travel Grants Pass Facebook page was creating issues," said David Reeves, assistant city manager. "There are certain legal requirements if (a site) is the city's, and of course there's confusion and misconceptions of that." Webb actually once owned TravelGrantsPass.com before she sold the web address to the city for $300 — initially a $14.99 value at GoDaddy.com , the hosting site that registered the URL in question — soon after the city hired Jon Bowen as tourism marketing contractor. Reeves said the city bought the address because what was there looked bad. "(TravelGrantsPass.com) was poorly run, it had bad links, it was an abandoned site," Reeves said. "It was a site that was actually hurting the city instead of helping it." Today the city runs TravelGrantsPass.com , but about a month ago became aware of Webb's Travel Grants Pass Facebook page, live since July 2014, and her GrantsPassOregon.com site, a play on the city's official GrantsPassOregon.gov site. Both of Webb's sites are mostly incomplete, with few posts, broken links, filler text and one lone picture of a shirtless man with a gun standing in front of a burning car that reads "sales tax." Aside from some quotes from local stakeholders, including former county Commissioner Sandi Cassanelli and local Chamber of Commerce President Colene Martin, most everything else on the GrantsPassOregon.com page is blank template fillers. City officials are unhappy that Webb controls URLs that look like they represent the city, but aren't official sites. Reeves and the Tourism Advisory Committee said the site was not being used in a fashion complementary to the city and its branding efforts. "Obviously it's not portraying the city in a positive light. It's a very negative image, negative displays, it's old, not up-to-date, and not the kind of thing that would not be representative of the city at all. But in fact it looks like she is trying to represent the city," Reeves said. "We would like her to stop." Reeves briefed the City Council on the dispute last month, at which time the council agreed that City Attorney Mark Bartholomew should look into the matter of legal action against Webb. Webb defends her sites and designs. "I've owned the domain, I've used it against the sales tax," Webb said. "That one (GrantsPassOregon.com) has just a picture … because it's about the sales tax, but I'm redoing it … it's going to be promoting economic development." The subject of economic development is one that Webb has been touting for several years, ever since she made her first run at the Board of Commissioners in 2012, when she was defeated by Keith Heck 54-46 percent. She has refiled for another shot at Heck in 2016. Webb, an internet marketing consultant, recently formed a nonprofit agency she calls the Josephine County Economic Development Alliance, which some consider a competitor to SOREDI. That agency is underwritten by a partnership of Jackson and Josephine counties as well as the cities of Medford and Grants Pass. By Jules Rogers Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Jules Rogers Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Dec. 16, 2015 at 8:12 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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