CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A longtime Lake County resident and retired law enforcement officer has been appointed to fill a seat on the Clearlake City Council vacated in March by a resignation.
On Thursday evening, the council voted to select Stanley “Nick” Bennett to fill the remainder of the term of Denise Loustalot, who resigned effective March 25 due to a move outside of city limits, as Lake County News has reported.
Loustalot's term ends in November.
A total of nine Clearlake residents applied for the seat, city officials reported.
An ad hoc committee of Mayor Russ Perdock, Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson and Clearlake Planning Commission Chair Nathalie Antus vetted the applications and recommended that the council consider four candidates – Bennett, Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit, Phil Harris and former Councilman Joey Luiz.
“It was very gratifying to see the number of qualified applicants that we had to choose from,” said Perdock. “I initially expected to be at the meeting long into the night debating the candidates, but Mr. Bennett scored very highly on all of our interview questions and we were able to come to consensus pretty quickly.”
Added Fortino Dickson, “I look forward to working on the priority goals of the city that Mr. Bennett clearly understands.”
Bennett was raised in Lake County, served honorably in the United States Army and pursued a career in law enforcement beginning in the 1960s, working at Bay Area agencies including the police departments in South San Francisco and East Palo Alto, according to his application.
In 1995 he was recruited to join the Clearlake Police Department, where he served for the last 20 years, retiring in 2015 as a sergeant.
Over the past several decades Bennett also has served a number of charitable and nonprofit organizations, including working with youth activity leagues, an ecumenical hunger program and, more recently, was a board member of North Coast Opportunities. He is a member of the Clearlake Rotary.
A special Clearlake City Council meeting has been called for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 19, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
At that meeting, Bennett will take the oath of office and then join council members Fortino Dickson, Perdock, Joyce Overton and Bruno Sabatier on the dais.
Also at that meeting, there will be an orientation for Bennett before he dives right in, joining his colleagues in discussing allocation of the Series A Bond funds and holding a study session to review the city's mission statement, core values, vision and goals.
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