Chico Public
MAR 3, 2026 ≈135 MIN AI-GENERATED MATCHES OFFICIAL MINUTES ✓

3/3/26 Council Meeting & Posted Addendum

Council accepts police report, defers purchases

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TL;DR

The most contested issue of the night was the Chico Police Department's annual report on military-grade equipment (things like drones, an armored rescue vehicle, and specialty firearms) — after extensive public comment and multiple competing motions, the council ultimately voted 4-3 to accept only the report itself, declining to approve the proposed equipment-use policy or 2026 purchases (including roughly $1.2 million in incident command vehicles), sending those decisions to the upcoming budget process instead. The council also voted 4-3 to send a letter supporting California Water Service's request to the state utilities commission for funding to remove "forever chemicals" (PFAS) from local wells. Other actions included exempting a planned CARD Aquatic Center from the city's tree-preservation rules (7-0) and agreeing to have the police chief give the council a periodic briefing on hiring, training, discipline, and crime trends (7-0). Public comment included a resident describing a recent antisemitic threat against local Jewish institutions, business owners raising downtown safety concerns, and speakers on both sides of the police equipment debate.

What happened, item by item

ITEM 1.1
Call to order / addendum item

Mayor Reynolds opened the meeting at 6:02 p.m. with all members present, Councilmember O'Brien joining remotely. The council voted 6-1 to add a late-arriving item — a possible letter of support for California Water Service — to the agenda; Councilmember Goldstein cast the lone "no," saying, "I'm not comfortable adding an item like this last minute that impacts our citizens without enough time to review."

ITEM 1.5
Closed session report

City Attorney Ryan Jones reported that before the open meeting, council received a briefing from a recruitment firm on the city manager search, discussed the Believe in Chico lawsuit and a lawsuit by Stephanie Lewis with legal counsel, and gave direction to labor negotiators. No formal votes were taken on any of these.

Consent agenda (items 2.1–2.4)

The council approved a batch of routine items in a single vote with no discussion and no speakers: final adoption of an ordinance updating how development fees are adjusted, a resolution approving a new labor contract with United Public Employees of California Local 792, a change in committee assignments moving Councilmember Van Overbeek's downtown improvement district seat to Councilmember O'Brien, and the minutes from the February 17 meeting.

3. Public comments

Seven residents spoke on topics not otherwise on the agenda. A recurring theme was public safety and trust: one speaker described a recent antisemitic threat against local Jewish institutions, saying they were "disappointed" that only one councilmember had followed up with them; a downtown business owner asked for more police presence, saying "I love our police and you guys are always responding very quickly"; and another business owner, describing downtown conditions, said "If our downtown is trashy, nobody wants to come down here. And it's hurting businesses and our economy." A separate speaker described the difficulty homeless residents face getting into the city's Pallet shelter program, saying "Most people in this community have no idea how difficult it is for homeless people to get into the pallet shelter."

ITEM 4.1
Annual Military Equipment Use Report (AB 481)

Police Captain Omar Pena — giving what the captain called "my first time presenting" — walked the council through the department's 2025 use of drones, an armored vehicle, less-lethal launchers and other equipment subject to state reporting law, and requested approval to seek funding for 2026 purchases, the biggest being three incident command vehicles. Thirteen members of the public spoke, mostly opposing the vehicle purchases; one speaker from the Chico Peace Alliance said, "I'm not a fan of a request for $1.2 million for three of the command incident vehicles that's being asked for." After lengthy debate, a motion to approve the report, the equipment policy, and 2026 purchases (minus seven patrol rifles) failed 2-5. The council then passed, 4-3, a narrower motion to accept the annual report itself without approving the policy or any purchases — meaning those decisions move to the budget process. Councilmember Winslow said, "We are the oversight of the police. We're the other side of the budget. And I think it's important that we do second guess where our priorities are," while Councilmember Van Overbeek disagreed, calling some of the pushback "an example of people second-guessing the police that don't know what they're talking about."

ITEM 5.1
CARD Aquatic Center tree exemption

The council voted 7-0 to exempt the Chico Area Recreation and Park District's planned Aquatic Center from the city's tree-preservation rules and to introduce an ordinance formally adding CARD to the list of exempt public agencies, aligning it with similar public entities already on that list.

ITEM 5.2
Councilmember Van Overbeek request — police presentation

Councilmember Van Overbeek asked for a periodic report from the police chief covering hiring, training, discipline, staffing structure, and crime statistics, saying "the more people understand about what our police department does and how they do it, the better things are going to be." The council voted 7-0 to direct the chief to schedule such a briefing.

ITEM 5.3
Letter of support for Cal Water's PFAS program

California Water Service asked the city to support its request to state regulators for funding to install treatment systems removing PFAS ("forever chemicals") from wells ahead of a new federal safety limit. A company representative said the goal was "to support us proactively installing treatment, not waiting to seek more grant funding that may not be there." Several councilmembers objected that the council lacked independent information on costs or the rate impact to customers; Councilmember Goldstein said, "It's an unfunded mandate, and I don't feel that I have enough information to justify our council supporting passing this cost on to our residents at this time." The council voted 4-3 to authorize the mayor to send the letter.

Councilmember requests

Mayor Reynolds asked to add discussion of a proposed downtown "entertainment zone" concept to a future meeting already scheduled to cover downtown revitalization topics, so city staff would have direction on whether to keep working on it. The council voted 7-0 to add it.

SAID ON THE DAIS

“We are the oversight of the police. We're the other side of the budget. And I think it's important that we do second guess where our priorities are.”

— COUNCILMEMBER WINSLOW

Votes & roll calls

Present: Goldstein, Hawley, O'Brien, van Overbeek, Winslow, Bennett, Reynolds

✓ PASSED 6–1

Motion: Add consideration of authorizing a letter of support for California Water Service's PFAS Compliance Program to the agenda (required 2/3 majority vote)

✗ Goldstein ✓ Hawley ✓ O'Brien ✓ van Overbeek ✓ Winslow ✓ Bennett ✓ Reynolds
ITEM 2 CONSENT AGENDA
✓ PASSED

Motion: Approve the Consent Agenda as read

Taken by voice vote — the chair called for any objections or disqualifications, and no members were recorded individually.

ITEM 4.1 ASSEMBLY BILL 481 (AB 481) - ANNUAL MILITARY EQUIPMENT USE REPORT

After Hawley's motion failed 2-5, the council fell back to Winslow's motion to approve the AB 481 report as submitted.

Main motion ✓ PASSED 4–3
✗ Goldstein ✗ Hawley ✓ O'Brien ✓ van Overbeek ✗ Winslow ✓ Bennett ✓ Reynolds
How the council got here (1)

↳ First main motion (Hawley's) on the military equipment item; a substitute motion reducing vehicles to one had failed for lack of a second, so this original motion was voted.

Main motion ✗ FAILED 2–5

Motion: Approve receipt of annual Military Equipment Use report, review Ordinance to adopt Military Equipment Use Policy, approve the Policy, and approve purchase of additional proposed acquisitions for 2026, excluding the 7 automatic military rifles

✓ Goldstein ✓ Hawley ✗ O'Brien ✗ van Overbeek ✗ Winslow ✗ Bennett ✗ Reynolds
ITEM 5.1 EXEMPTION OF THE CHICO AREA RECREATION AND PARK DISTRICT (CARD) AQUATIC CENTER FROM CHAPTER 16.66 (TREE PRESERVATION REGULATIONS) AND MUNICIPAL CODE AMENDMENT TO ADD CARD AS AN EXEMPT PUBLIC ENTITY
✓ PASSED 7–0

Motion: Introduce ordinance amending Section 16.66.040(A) of the Chico Municipal Code to add the Chico Area Recreation and Park District as an exempt entity from Tree Preservation Regulations, by reading of title only

✓ Goldstein ✓ Hawley ✓ O'Brien ✓ van Overbeek ✓ Winslow ✓ Bennett ✓ Reynolds
ITEM 5.2 COUNCILMEMBER VAN OVERBEEK REQUEST - Police Department Presentation
✓ PASSED 7–0

Motion: Have the Police Chief do an annual presentation on hiring practices and training of police officers and crime statistics

✓ Goldstein ✓ Hawley ✓ O'Brien ✓ van Overbeek ✓ Winslow ✓ Bennett ✓ Reynolds
ITEM 5.3 ITEMS ADDED AFTER THE POSTING OF THE AGENDA (6-1 vote to agendize)
✓ PASSED 4–3

Motion: Authorize the Mayor to submit a letter of support on behalf of the City supporting California Water Service's PFAS Compliance Program application to the California Public Utilities Commission

✗ Goldstein ✗ Hawley ✓ O'Brien ✓ van Overbeek ✗ Winslow ✓ Bennett ✓ Reynolds
ITEM 6.3 COUNCILMEMBER REQUESTS
✓ PASSED 7–0

Motion: Suspend the 30-day rule and bring back a discussion item at the next meeting for an entertainment zone in the downtown area

✓ Goldstein ✓ Hawley ✓ O'Brien ✓ van Overbeek ✓ Winslow ✓ Bennett ✓ Reynolds

Notable moments

  • Several public speakers connected the police equipment debate to a recent officer misconduct case and to concerns about excessive force nationally, while others — including local business owners and a veterans' group — expressed support for the department and its outreach.
  • A resident described being unable to get an elderly, disabled woman into the Pallet homeless shelter for months, raising questions about how difficult the shelter's intake process is.
  • A speaker noted seeing downtown's plaza cleaned up just before the "Choose Chico" business event and asked why that level of cleanup isn't maintained year-round.
Coming up
  • The council's next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, 2026, with closed session in the early afternoon and the regular open meeting at 6:00 p.m.
  • The military equipment use policy and proposed 2026 police equipment purchases (including the incident command vehicles) will be revisited during the upcoming city budget process rather than at this meeting.
  • A police department presentation on hiring, training, discipline, staffing, and crime trends will be scheduled at a future meeting, timing to be worked out between the chief and city manager.
  • Discussion of a downtown "entertainment zone" concept will be added to the council's upcoming downtown revitalization discussion.