During a closed session special meeting on Tuesday, the Turlock City Council voted to appoint Deputy City Manager Sarah Eddy as acting city manager, effective immediately.

Eddy will be taking over for interim city manager Gary Hampton, who took up the position on Sept. 1 when City Manager Reagan Wilson left for a planned medical leave. According to the city, Hampton resigned on Tuesday due to “technical regulatory reasons.”

As a retired government employee, CalPERS restricts the maximum amount of hours he can work to 960 per fiscal year.  

Eddy has worked for the City of Turlock for 36 years. She was appointed deputy city manager in 2022.

This is the second time that Eddy has taken over the city manager position for Hampton.

Eddy took over as interim city manager in May 2021, taking the place of Hampton who was making his third trip to Turlock’s City Hall at that time.

Hampton began his service to the City of Turlock in 2006, when he took the position of Chief of Police. In January 2009, Hampton was asked by the then-City Council under Mayor John Lazar to serve as Interim City Manager, following the Council's midnight decision to terminate City Manager Tim Kerr. He then served as Turlock City Manager from April 2016 to April 2017. In March of this year, Hampton was named interim development services director. As a public retiree, he is limited to working 960 hours — about six months — in a fiscal year.

The position of City Manager has been a revolving door in recent years, particularly since Hampton’s original departure in 2017, which saw him file a hostile work environment claim against the City. Shortly after Hampton left, former Fire Chief Robert Talloni served as a long-term Interim City Manager until Bob Lawton took over in 2018.

After holding the position for just over a year, Lawton resigned in August 2019 and was eventually replaced by the City’s Municipal Services director, Michael Cooke, later that year. Cooke served through November 2020, but in March of that year Toby Wells came from the City of Ceres and was appointed as City Manager. 

Hampton found himself back in the role, albeit temporarily, in January 2021 after Wells was placed on investigative leave before being terminated.

In February 2022, the city council appointed former Stanislaus County CEO Reagan Wilson to the position in a split vote. Wilson was hired with a five-year employment agreement which included a $197,640 annual salary.