UPDATED: Del Rey Oaks City Manager Dino Pick asking for leave of absence to work at the Pentagon.

The U.S. military is calling Del Rey Oaks City Manager Dino Pick back into service. Pick, who served nearly 30 years in the Army—retiring as a colonel in 2014 after leading the Defense Language Institute, then working for the city of Monterey as a deputy city manager before moving into his current job in 2017—has been asked to serve temporarily in a senior position at the Pentagon within the Department of Defense.

“It’s a distinct honor to be asked to serve,” Pick says. He’s asking the Del Rey Oaks City Council for a four-month unpaid leave of absence at its meeting that starts at 6pm today. The leave would begin sometime in mid-October and end Feb. 15.

Pick says he intends to come back to Del Rey Oaks at the end of the absence. His wife Karen will remain in Monterey County during his service in Washington, D.C. “Karen and I continue to call this home,” he says.

The recommendation before the council is to grant the leave and place DRO Police Chief Jeff Hoyne in the position of acting city manager. The chief’s position would be held in the interim by DRO Police Commander Chris Bourquin. The move would save the city just over $69,000.

UPDATE: The Del Rey Oaks City Council voted 4-1 in favor of the leave of absence contract requested by Pick. Mayor Allison Kerr voted no after she attempted to negotiate certain points that she said would better protect the city, including a requirement of a written notice if Pick wasn't going to return. Councilmember John Gaglioti called Kerr's in-meeting negotiations "bad form," and made a motion to approve the contract as it was presented.

Pick served overseas in Iraq during Desert Storm in 1990, and later during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, serving other overseas tours, as well. According to a biography from the Hoover Institute, where he was a research fellow, he served as special adviser to General Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan. He also served as a policy officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

From 2010-2014, Pick was commandant of DLI, the very place he attended earlier in his career to learn Arabic. He speaks Arabic, Persian-Farsi, Persian-Dari and Assyrian. He served as director of the Army’s Foreign Area Officer program at the Presidio, before moving into the DLI commandant spot.