Turlock hires interim police chief amid search for several executive positions
The Turlock City Council on Tuesday hired Gary Hampton as interim police chief, marking the second time this year officials have appointed the retiree to a temporary leadership position.
City Council Member Nicole Larson cast the sole opposing vote and said she took issue with temporarily filling only some but not all permanent executive positions before the recruitment process.
Current city employees serve as interim fire chief and interim development director, for example. Interim City Manager Sarah Eddy said she recommended hiring Hampton because if the current interim chief applies for the permanent job, fewer candidates would apply. Applicants who work an interim job hold an unfair advantage, Eddy said.
“I think that we need to have all of the retired annuitants be lined up in these positions before we start with the recruiting process,” Larson said during the meeting. “If that’s really the intention to have retired annuitants that have no intention of applying for the job, that would make sense to have them all lined up in those positions before we take on the hiring process.”
Retired annuitants are retirees of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System who work in designated positions. Turlock has hired two other retired annuitants to temporarily fill open executive positions: Julie Burke and Kellie Weaver, who work as the interim finance director and interim city clerk, respectively.
Council Member Andrew Nosrati asked Eddy if she can ensure no applicant for an executive position currently works the job on an interim basis, such as by hiring retirees. Eddy, who has worked in human resources for most of her 32-year career with the city, said she cannot guarantee it.
“Our intention is to be as consistent as we can and do the same for all the other positions,” Eddy said.
Consultant hired to recruit
Other open department head positions include city manager, fire chief, municipal services director and development services director. The council on Tuesday also approved paying CPS HR Consulting up to $100,000 to recruit for those positions along with police chief. The city expects to fill the city manager position first, per the staff report.
Turlock additionally reinstated funding for the police captain position that Steven Williams worked prior to serving as interim police chief. After former chief Nino Amirfar retired in October 2020, Capt. Miguel Pacheco led the department through the end of January. Williams has worked as interim chief since.
Modesto did not take Turlock’s approach to prevent a current interim police chief from applying for the permanent position. The city hired Brandon Gillespie as its next police chief, despite him currently working as Modesto’s interim chief.
Hampton returns to Turlock, again
The council appointed Hampton as acting city manager on Jan. 12, after it put former City Manager Toby Wells on investigative leave. Eddy took over the role in late May after Hampton reached his maximum allowable hours working as a CalPERS retiree.
Hampton previously served as Turlock police chief and interim city manager between 2006 and 2011. He returned from Tracy to work as city manager from April 2016 to July 2017.
He will earn about $90 per hour, Turlock’s highest salary rate for the position. He starts working Aug. 17, per the resolution.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
