Jan 7, 2009 11:59 pm US/Pacific
Sunnyvale Appoints Councilman To Replace Reservist
SUNNYVALE (BCN) ―
The Sunnyvale City Council during their Tuesday night meeting appointed former Councilman Dean J. Chu as an interim councilman to fill the vacancy left by Otto Lee, who recently departed for combat training before a yearlong deployment to Iraq.
Lee, a commander of the U.S. Navy Reserve, was called up for active duty in December after serving in the reserve for 20 years, the councilman's Web site states.
He began his service Dec. 29 with a month of combat training, after which he is scheduled for deployment to Iraq.
Lee, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for a Board of Supervisors seat in November, is now under $182,000 of campaign debt.
His family and friends have launched a Web site to accept donations in order to relieve his wife and 3-year-old and 1-year-old daughters of the debt while Lee is away. Donations can be made at http://www.ottolee.org/iraq.
Lee has worked as a councilman for the city of Sunnyvale since 2003, with a year as vice mayor and another two years as mayor, from 2006 to 2008.
While Lee plans on returning to his council post, the council decided at their Dec. 16 meeting to fill his temporarily vacated seat with a previous council member who could bring experience to the table and avoid the lengthy learning process most new council members endure, city spokeswoman John Pilger said.
"They talked about having the interim council member be somebody who has experience as a council member (and) can hit the deck running," Pilger said.
The council decided to appoint the person who received the most votes of those who fell short of being elected in the last election, according to Pilger.
Former Councilman Chu, who lost his seat by a few hundred votes in the 2007 election, was picked for the position. Lee participated in the selection via teleconference from his training post in San Diego.
In addition to his experience serving on the council, Chu has financial expertise that could serve the city well in uncertain economic times.
"Just given the general state of the economy and what our city and other cities are looking at having to do ... there is probably going to be some distinct value in their decision making to have somebody with a strong financial background on the council," Pilger explained.
The council also expressed interest in having Chu serve as the interim councilman because of his position as a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board, Pilger said.
Chu will begin serving in the interim council seat next week. He will serve from 12 to 15 months while Lee trains and is deployed to Iraq, according to Pilger.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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