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Turlock loses Development Services Director to Waterford
City throws out City Manager recruitment, starts over
Mike Pitcock
After 20 years at the City of Turlock, Mike Pitcock is leaving to accept the City Manager position in Waterford. - photo by Photo Contributed

Turlock is losing its Director of Development Services/City Engineer as Mike Pitcock accepted the City Manager position for the City of Waterford on Thursday.

“Being a city manager has been a career goal of mine. I believe Waterford is a perfect fit for me and I’m very excited to enter this next chapter in my career,” said Pitcock.

Pitcock has been with the City of Turlock for 20 years and helped shape many of the city’s development projects including the Turlock Regional Industrial park, Monte Vista Crossings commercial center and Northwest and Northeast residential master plan communities.

His experience with these projects in the county’s second-largest city, with a population over 72,000, will help him lead the east Stanislaus County community of Waterford, which has an approximate population of 8,861.

Pitcock’s last day at the City of Turlock will be Nov. 9. He will replace Tim Ogden as the head of the City of Waterford, who left earlier this year to accept the City Manager position in Manteca.

"I'm very happy for Director Pitcock and for the community of Waterford. This is a great professional opportunity for him and, while we will miss him at City Hall, I'm glad he chose to keep his skills in the region. Director Pitcock has trained his staff well over the years, thus, his departure lends an opportunity for staff to expand their professional development. We are very grateful to Director Pitcock for his 20 years of service to Turlock," said Mayor Gary Soiseth.

Eric Picciano, Turlock’s Chief Building Official, will be temporarily filling the position left by Pitcock while the City conducts a nationwide search to fill the Director of Development Services position, according to a press release sent out by Interim City Manager Robert Talloni.

The City will be searching for a new Director of Development Services and at the same time seeking a new City Manager.

Talloni, hired on as the Turlock Fire Chief in November 2015, has been serving as the Interim City Manager since Gary Hampton left in July. Hampton announced his retirement in April and the City started a recruitment search at that time, appointing three panels of community members and a panel of City directors to interview top candidates.

Following a closed session meeting on Oct. 10, city staff reported that the City Council unanimously decided to end the current city manager recruitment and start the process over.