Tim Ogden has kept his word. Manteca now has a city manager who actually calls Manteca home for the first time since 2006.
Ogden’s family is moving today from Modesto to a home in Manteca.
The last city manager to reside in Manteca was Bob Adams who retired in 2007.
The city manager not living in Manteca has been a sore point with a number of people who believe a city manager is more effective if they also reside in the community. None of the three city managers before Ogden — Steve Pinkerton, Karen McLaughlin, or Elena Reyes — lived in Manteca. The fact was tossed out at various times by members of the public trying to argue various points during council meetings when Pinkerton and McLaughlin served. It never really surfaced during Reyes’ term — not because she was an East Union High grad and lives in Lathrop — but because she was on the payroll for less than an year.
Under the city’s ordinance requiring the city manager live within a 30 mile radius of Manteca that was designed to pass muster to court challenges, Ogden lived close enough to the city.
But he made it clear to the council when they hired him as well as in a Bulletin interview in August 2017 that he would be moving to Manteca.
Ogden, at that time said that he and his wife Heather decided it was best to “wait until spring of 2018” to make the move. That’s because their eldest son is not only a senior this year at Enochs High in Modesto but he also serves as the associated student body president. They also have four other children — a fifth grader, a seventh grader, and a freshman.
“I’m doing it for selfish reasons,” Ogden said in August 2017 of his plan to become a Manteca homeowner. “It eliminates a commute.”
He added at the time that it can also give him additional perspectives in terms of working on behalf of the city’s 77,000 customers.

Habit Burger gets
ready to break ground
The Habit Burger Grill is getting ready to break ground  a 2,852-square-foot restaurant with a 309-square-foot patio dining area as well as a drive-thru lane adjacent to Panera Bread on East Yosemite Avenue.
 Chick-fil-A is also pursuing a restaurant a block to the east on the northeast corner of East Yosemite and Northwoods avenues where the shuttered Super Buffet Chinese restaurant is now located. Chick-fil-A is expected to start work on their 4,172-square-foot restaurant with drive-thru service in the coming months.
Add to the mix Jimmy John’s gourmet sandwich shop that is also opening in the coming months in the same complex housing Chipotle’s as well as Mt. Pickle’s Sandwiches on East Yosemite Avenue at Commerce Drive.
Habit Burger built its reputation on chargrilling — Consumer Reports claims they make the best tasting burger in America.
The Habit Burger Grill got its start in 1969 in Santa Barbara where it sold burgers and malts for 24 cents each. The Irvine-based for is now pushing 200 locations. The closest to Manteca are in Modesto, Stockton, Turlock, Livermore, and Pleasanton.
The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, salads, sides, and frozen treats.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com