Logo courtesy of the City of Live Oak

LIVE OAK, CA (MPG) - At the Dec. 17 meeting, the Live Oak City Council selected members to serve as mayor and vice mayor for 2026. 

Vice Mayor Aaron Pamma motioned to keep Jeramy Chapdelaine as mayor for the upcoming year. The motion was approved 4-0, with Councilmember Nancy Santana absent. 

City Manager Ben Moody congratulated Mayor Chapdelaine and presented him with a plaque in recognition of his service for 2025. 

Chapdelaine appreciated the vote of confidence and said it’s an honor to serve as mayor. He thanked the staff and councilmembers for their hard work: “It takes a team. There’s been a lot of big changes over the last year, and we kicked that off early with setting our priorities and really getting a plan.” 

Vice Mayor Pamma said, “As we all know, the city is tough position, but you demonstrated some great leadership this year. You represented our city well.” Pamma praised Chapdelaine’s leadership in the last year, which included the hiring of a permanent city manager and tackling difficult budget issues. “You’ve led us in the right direction, and I hope in 2026 we continue that momentum and continue improving our town.”

Councilmembers Bob Woten and Ashley Hernandez agreed, and thanked Chapdelaine for his hard work and steady leadership. 

Councilmember Woten motioned to keep Vice Mayor Pamma is his position as well, which was approved 4-0. 

Mayor Chapdelaine said Pamma had “gone way above and beyond expectations of any first-year councilmember. You’ve been a huge contributor.” With many challenges ahead, Chapdelaine said the council will “put our best foot forward to get Live Oak steady and back on track.”

The council also considered an updated license agreement with the Live Oak Little League for use of the city’s baseball and softball facilities, with 200 children participating annually on up to 20 teams. 

The city has maintained agreements with the league for more than 16 years, and staff recommended that this time the term be extended from five years to ten, which will give the league more flexibility for facility use as well as full maintenance and repair responsibilities. This change will benefit the league while also providing annual cost savings for the city.  

League President Matt Smith thanked the council for their consideration. He said the new terms will allow the league to make capital improvements on the field and provide better upkeep, as well as organizing tournaments, bringing more visitors to the city to support local businesses. 

The updated agreement was approved 4-0. 

Finally, the council considered a legal services contract with Stag Liuzza, LLC, to represent the city in a nationwide settlement against 3M and DuPont for negative impacts of Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF). City Manager Moody said the chemicals are a type of PFAs, or forever chemicals, that remain in groundwater. 

Michael Stag called in to the meeting and said he’s been working on this case for six years with clients around the country.

“We’ve been able to achieve a multibillion-dollar settlement with 3M and DuPont. It’s a product liability case. It’s a cost recovery case,” said Stag. “It’s to recover costs for public drinking water systems. There are some deadlines that we need to meet, and there’s some hoops that we need to jump through to comply with the settlement agreement to receive money out of the settlement.” 

Mayor Chapdelaine said it will benefit the city to be represented by an expert in this field. Any settlement funds can be reinvested into the city’s water system to manage this issue. 

City Manager Moody clarified that levels of the chemicals in Live Oak are not at action levels, but in order to secure a settlement award, they need to ensure they meet all testing and monitoring requirements. 

The contract cost is a third of the city’s settlement award, plus expenses. If the city does not receive an award, there will be no legal cost. The council voted 4-0 to approve the contract.  

The next meeting of the Live Oak City Council is scheduled for Jan. 7, 2026.