It has been nearly two years since the departure of John Russo as Irvine city manager in 2020. Now, on Tuesday, Nov. 9, the Irvine City Council will vote to decide if Oliver Chi, the city’s recently announced finalist for city manager, will become a full-time employee.  

On Wednesday, Nov. 3, the city of Irvine announced that Chi had been selected as a finalist for the position and the Irvine City Council is expected to vote in favor of hiring Chi on November 9. 

After Russo’s abrupt departure in September 2020, the city of Irvine appointed current Interim City Manager Marianna Marysheva. 

In terms of experience, Chi is familiar with Orange County, and is currently working as the city manager for the city of Huntington Beach, a job which he began in September 2019. With the all but official move to Irvine, Chi becomes the sixth city manager in the city’s history. He will receive an annual salary of approximately $301,000.  

As for his involvement in the community, Chi helped establish Be Well OC, a nonprofit focusing on the response to mental health crises in the community. Specifically, Be Well OC is a mobile crisis response that sends intervention teams to calls relating to mental health and substance abuse.

In fact, the city of Irvine will be looking to build partnerships with Be Well OC with a portion of the COVID-19 relief funds acquired from the American Recovery Plan act.

As for other governmental leadership roles, Chi has worked in managerial capacities for various cities in California including Monrovia, Barstow, Rosemead, Claremont and Arcadia. 

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