Pomp and comedy as new members take their seats

Twenty minutes into his final Chico City Council meeting as mayor, Scott Gruendl asked Dan Herbert and Maureen Kirk to step off the dais and join him on the floor of council chambers.

“You want us to sit on the floor?” Herbert jovially asked as Gruendl readied proclamation plaques for the two outgoing councilmembers.

“The cameras only go so low,” the mayor quipped back.

Awards at the ready, Gruendl began his presentation, the sort he’s done countless times over the past two years, including two tributes moments earlier for retiring city administrators Clif Sellers and Tony Baptiste.

“Tonight,” he began, “we say goodnight …”

Raucous laughter.

” … goodbye to two veteran councilmembers I’ve had the fortune to sit between.” With that quick recovery, he continued: “Dan made sure I knew when the [speaker’s time signal] light was red, and Maureen let me know when it was time to move on. Between the two of them kicking my knees, I’m amazed I can stand here today.”

It was that kind of meeting Tuesday night (Dec. 5), when Gruendl passed the gavel to Andy Holcombe, got sworn in for his second term along with newcomers Mary Flynn and Tom Nickell, then took his new seat—at the far left of the dais—to hear the few bits of business on the agenda.

The deliberations, including a 4-1 vote to hear an appeal of the Elks Lodge cell tower project, capped a session full of pomp, circumstance and stand-up comedy.

Herbert, whose eight years on the council included a term as mayor, quoted the Old Testament in his brief farewell: “May the Lord bless you, Chico, and may his face shine upon you.” Kirk, another former mayor and eight-year councilmember, thanked city staff and her colleagues. To an eruption of laughter, she said to Steve Bertagna, whom she defeated for a seat on the Butte County Board of Supervisors, “I’m really glad you’re serving two more years.”

“Dan,” she said a few minutes later, “if we could have eight members, you’d be my eighth.”

“No, thank you,” he replied, sparking—what else?—laughter.

Retired Judge Darrell Stevens administered the oath of office to Gruendl, Flynn and Nickell. Then came the election of the mayor and vice-mayor, which unlike two years ago was swift and non-partisan.

Even before City Clerk Debbie Presson could finish reading the office’s description, Ann Schwab nominated Holcombe and Bertagna—in the conservative minority with Larry Wahl—seconded the nomination. The vote: 7-0. Then Gruendl nominated Schwab for vice mayor, Holcombe closed the nominations, and she, too, got approved 7-0.

The political divide remained subtly evident, though, when Wahl and Bertagna kept their seats on the right side of the dais.

Holcombe acknowledged the challenge of succeeding Gruendl, acknowledged for strong leadership in a “weak mayor” city structure. “I’ll do my best to fill the mayoral shoes in my own way, over time,” he said. And indeed, in keeping with his day job as a lawyer, he instituted roll calls (instead of choruses of “aye” and “nay") so it would be clear who voted each way.

Bertagna joked about going first and showing everyone how to vote. After the ensuing 7-0 approval of the Sky Creek Park assessment district, he got an even bigger laugh by declaring, “I rest my case.”

Bertagna and Nickell recused themselves from the cell-tower debate (Bertagna does business with telecommunications companies, and Nickell is an Elks Lodge member). After hearing from five proponents and four opponents of the project, the council—with Wahl dissenting—opted to hear an appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval, on Jan. 16.

Flynn and Nickell were understated in their first meeting, speaking up just once apiece to second motions.

“I was excited and energized—glad I’m finally here,” Flynn said afterward, relaxed in her new seat with a thick binder in front of her.

“I realize I have so many questions,” the Chico High math teacher continued. “I took a lot of notes. It will be a learning process of how to accomplish things.”

Nickell, a CHP officer set to retire next spring, called his father during the cell-tower discussion. He, too, expressed excitement after his first meeting and said he’s happy to have Gruendl in a neighboring chair answering his questions: “I’m a rookie,” he remarked, “and a senior officer is sitting right there.”

“I’m gonna have a blast," Nickell added. He’s part of a 5-2 majority that got off to a good start, so there’s no reason to doubt him.