Manager of Huntington Beach Oliver Chi has been guiding the city through many protests and the turbulent epidemic period. However, now, Chi plans on moving to Irvine, a politically quieter city.
Irvine officials announced their plan to hire him, which ended weeks of guesswork about the new manager. On November 09, 2021, councilors in Irvine will formalize this move with a voting procedure. If not for the unexpected, he would become the sixth manager of Irvine in the city’s 50 years.
The Huntington Beach manager stated that change came his way instead of him looking for a change. A recruiter contacted Chi to tell him that he is possibly a good candidate for Irvine’s manager, a move that he considers flattering. Chi regards the opportunity to be Irvine’s next manager as compelling.
The annual salary of Chi will go up to more than $301,000 here in Irvine. The 41-year-old has held staff and management positions in Barstow, Monrovia, Claremont, Arcadia and Rosemead. Chi graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and got a masters degree at the University of Southern California. According to Irvine Councilor Tammy Kim, Chi is the right man to lead the city into the next 50 years.
On the other hand, officials at Huntington Beach lament the departure of Manager Chi. Huntington Beach’s Mayor Pro Tempore Barbara Delgleize regarded Chi as a manager who constituted a refreshing change. Delgleize also said that she could not express how disappointed she feels about the departure of Huntington Beach’s manager.
As for Delgleize, Chi is responsible for keeping Huntington Beach solvent in the COVID-19 crisis, partly by negotiating bonds with a low interest rate to refund the city’s worker pension debt. Delgleize also stated that Huntington Beach would have a budget surplus for numerous years thanks to the good management from Chi.
The announcement of the appointment for Irvine describes Chi as an Eagle Scout. According to Huntington Beach Councilor Mike Posey, Chi has an exceptionally large personality as well as is exuberant, charismatic and energetic. Posey also stated that Chi could manage a room with many angry people and could make them all less angry when they leave.
Posey discussed Chi’s contribution to buying real estate for a US Navigation Center that would shelter the homeless. Thanks to Chi, Huntington Beach purchased the property before Orange County contacted the officials to talk about working on the real estate project. It saved the city plenty of money.
Chi is popular with several people at Huntington Beach City Hall but not with everyone there. In 2020, a city worker charged him with ordering an email search that was invasive. Chi joined the city months before COVID-19 stressors transformed it into the center of anti-vaccine, anti-shutdown and anti-mask demonstrations. Many people gathered around the Huntington Beach Pier to oppose or support Black Lives Matter, critical race theory and Donald Trump.
The brief stint of mixed martial artist Tito Ortiz as a city councilor made unnecessary trouble. For your information, Ortiz served as Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tempore for a while and refused to use a face mask. As for Chi, longstanding conventions that held the city together are changing gradually.
Chi also stated that Irvine would pose its own group of challenges. Councilor Kim stated that the background of Chi as a non-white person makes him well-positioned with regard to embracing Irvine’s changing demographics.
Kim also stated that Chi would find it challenging to manage the growth of Irvine from a small, quiet town to a place with over 300,000 individuals. For your information, Irvine is among the most diverse cities in the United States of America. It is on track to be not only Orange County’s largest city but also one of California’s biggest cities.
Besides the University of California, Irvine, and expanding healthcare programs, the US city has the main offices of many medical device and pharma companies. Edwards Lifesciences and Allergan. Irvine is also building a center for cancer research and treatment worth a whopping $1 billion.
Irvine has the Great Park, a piece of property that spans 688 acres with facilities for soccer, tennis, baseball, ice sports and volleyball. The public park is being developed even today.
Chi stated that his family possibly would move to Irvine city after this school year. Chi stated that it is worth living in the US community that he serves. For your information, he is a married man with two kids.
Officials in Huntington Beach are concerned that a few of the initiatives started under Chi would be temporarily stopped until another manager could be up to date. Nevertheless, Chi promised that the transition would be smooth. Chi is confident that the Huntington Beach team will keep moving this city forward in his absence.
