CHICO — During a special meeting Tuesday night, the Chico city council voted to fill the two seats vacant since late June with Mike O’Brien and Dale Bennett.
O’Brien will fill the at-large seat formerly held by Scott Huber. Currently, O’Brien is the commander of Butte County’s Inter-Agency Narcotics Task Force and the former Chico chief of police until 2020. O’Brien received votes from Mayor Andrew Coolidge, vice mayor Kasey Reynolds and councilors Sean Morgan and Deepika Tandon, one more than the three needed to win.
The District 3 seat formerly held by Kami Denlay will be filled by Dale Bennett, an asset manager who has lived in Chico for 70 years. Bennett also received votes from Coolidge, Morgan, Reynolds and Tandon.
Before the voting, the council was given the opportunity to ask the nominees final questions. O’Brien was asked his opinion on Chico’s approach to homelessness.
“I admire Chico,” O’Brien told the council. “I think we can be the city we want to be but I believe we need to step back and look at (the homeless issue) from a different perspective.”
Mayor Coolidge asked O’Brien, “What do you see as the factors as to why housing is so expensive here?”
“Not enough supply for the demand,” O’Brien answered. “Affordable housing is not just one kind of housing.”
After receiving the decisive votes, O’Brien told this paper being selected was a humbling feeling.
“Obviously I was not necessarily a policymaker as a police chief – I follow the lead of the council. So this will be a different dynamic but regardless of all that, it really was just a very humbling experience to be given that confidence from the council to serve in this capacity,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien added that given his nearly three decades of experience, he hopes that he’ll be able to help as the city moves forward.
“It’s a very important time for this city right now. If I can lend any of my past lessons I learned as a leader in this community, I want to do that for the betterment of all,” O’Brien said. “I really have a desire to help this community, help this council, and I’m going to do my best to serve both well.”
During his initial interview in front of the council on July 20, O’Brien stated that he had no interest in running for reelection. O’Brien said he’s sticking by that and is content with assisting as much as he can until the current term ends after the 2022 election.
“(The time period) was very appealing to me. I had been encouraged to run in this last election back in November of 2020 and I knew that was not the right time for me or the right circumstances. This this time was a little unique losing two council members in a matter of a week,” O’Brien said. “When I was asked by some people to step up and throw my hat in the ring and go ahead and apply, I gave that some really deep consideration. It wasn’t something I was looking for necessarily but I’ve been in service for over three decades and I thought maybe I could lend some of my experiences again to this council in this community at a pretty important time.”
Speaking with this newspaper on Friday, councilor Sean Morgan spoke highly of O’Brien.
“He’s only been gone for a year. He understands the dynamics of Chico better than anybody we talked to so I’m really glad that he came out on top because he’s the best person and he also doesn’t have a political agenda,” Morgan said. “He doesn’t want to run again so he shouldn’t upset anybody. He’s a very fair-minded guy.”
The freshly elected Bennett opted not to give any interviews until he is sworn in. However, he spoke to council during the interview process on Tuesday.
Asked by councilor Alex Brown why he believes homelessness is rising in Chico, Bennett responded, “Our climate. They are able to come here and live. It’s the availability and climate,” he said. “People are moving to Chico as a haven for their minimal survival. And they’re coming from other places.”
Morgan said Bennett’s prior experience on Chico’s planning commission helped in the decision to give him the vote.
“(Bennett) was the only person that had any qualifications as far as having worked in municipal government,” Morgan said Friday. “He’s on the planning commission and he’s been on the Architectural Review Board and he didn’t seem to have a political agenda.”
Both O’Brien and Bennett’s terms will last until the next election in November 2022.
Bennett and O’Brien will be sworn in during the Aug. 3 meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Chico City Council Chambers at 421 Main St. in Chico.
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