After a year of service, Lea Simvoulakis is leaving the city of Ceres as its director of Community Development.

Her last day on the job will be April 14, said City Manager Doug Dunford.

“She decided she wanted to move into the private sector so she’ll be working for Northstar Engineering,” said Dunford.  “Timing is not real good. I wish we could have held onto her a little bit longer.”

With Senior Planner Teddie Hernandez out on a maternity leave, the city has no planning staff. To help out Ceres until a replacement is found, the city will be contracting with Northstar to keep Simvoulakis working on Ceres matters on a 10-hour-per-week basis.

Dunford said he expects it will be a while to find a replacement, saying planners are “extremely hard to find.”

“We have some feelers out right now but Riverbank has been looking for a senior planner for two years. That’s what’s kind of hurting us. Cities are looking for the same people. Everybody seems to be happy where they are and doesn’t want to leave.”

Dunford is hoping Simvoulakis’ limited part-time availability will get the city through planning matters but her departure could hamper the forthcoming Copper Trails master plan and annexation. Simvoulakis cannot work on the project since Northstar is engineering the project and there would be a conflict of interest.

Simvoulakis was hired by the city of Ceres to replace Christopher Hoem, who was terminated on Feb. 26, 2024.

During her tenure she helped guide the city through the cumbersome process of getting the Housing Element approved by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Previously she served as Manteca’s deputy director of Development Services, a planning manager in San Jose, and planning director for the city of Hughson.