Carson appoints a familiar face, Cedric Hicks, to City Council. A former longtime Carson community services director who helped the city snag the 2015 All-America City award for supportive resident programs has been appointed to the City Council.

In a 3-0 vote Tuesday night, Cedric Hicks was selected to replace Donesia Gause, who vacated her council seat when voters recalled Jim Dear as city clerk and reinstated Gause to the seat she held from 2012 to 2015. The council term ends in November and Hicks said he will seek election then for a four-year term.

“I’ve been in the city for over 25 years. I gave my life in working for this city for close to 15 years,” Hicks said after he was sworn into office late Tuesday. “It is humbling that I sit here before this body and the community of Carson because I have always been committed to serving this community. I wanted to make sure I moved to a community that’s culturally diverse and that provided opportunities for (more than) one particular race or ethnicity.”

Hicks, who made a run for City Council last year, managed Carson’s parks and recreation facilities for 15 years before recently accepting a new job as Inglewood’s assistant city manager. A former Compton police officer, he worked with the Sheriff’s Department to develop a program to help at-risk youth in the community, which led to the All-America City award recognition from the National Civic League last year.

Hicks was one of 18 residents to apply for the appointment, and now joins Mayor Al Robles and council members Elito Santarina, Lula Davis-Holmes and Jawane Hilton on the dais.

He said his primary concern is stabilizing the budget because the city has a deficit this year and has had to curtail its usually robust spending on arts programs and festivals.

“You have renewable energies that are coming on board (and), with what we’re taxing, you’re not going to be receiving the same revenue as you did in the past,” Hicks told council members just before they voted on his appointment. “You need to really look at how you’re budgeting your funds for this fiscal year to make sure you’re not overextending what you think you’re going to get.”