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Déjà Vu As Chico Council Meets Twice In One Week

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Chico’s City Council meets twice this week, with officials hoping to finalize the move to district elections.

 

The council meets Monday, again considering a switch to district elections. Then, in a Tuesday encore, it’s set to tackle other, more mundane issues. 

If approved tonight, rules establishing districts would take effect 30 days later, on March 11th.  

 

Districts will upend a long established at-large system.  

 

The change has created accusations of intrigue as conservatives and liberals jockey for power.  

 

But City Clerk Debbie Presson said distrust and finger-pointing really originate with the complexity of state law, which has led to misunderstanding and vitriol.  

 

“The districting process is very complex, and understanding all the things and all the layers that had to be used in order to determine the districts.”  Presson said. 

 

Under the proposal up for debate Monday, four seats are up this year, the other three in 2022. 

 

On Tuesday, the council will take up issues bounced from prior meetings due to lengthy agendas. These include a proposed increase in the cost of reserving space in local parks, a raise for the manager of the municipal airport, and a bid to crack down on a local bicycle rickshaw driver’s amplified sound system.  

 

The council will also consider discussing the Safe Space Winter Shelter at a later meeting.  

 

Both meetings will be held in the council chambers and get underway at 6 p.m. 

Matt Fidler is a producer and sound designer with over 15 years’ experience producing nationally distributed public radio programs. He has worked for shows such as Freakonomics Radio, Selected Shorts, Studio 360, The New Yorker Radio Hour and The Takeaway. In 2017, Matt launched the language podcast Very Bad Words, hitting the #28 spot in the iTunes podcast charts.