After three decades of serving the Pullman community, Pete Dickinson will say goodbye to city planning. 

Dickinson, originally from California, obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley. He came to Pullman to get his master’s degree at WSU in regional planning, where he found an internship with the City of Pullman.

After holding the city planner position for 36 years, his best memories includes helping solve issues within the community, he said.

“I thought about what my dream job would be in planning,” Dickinson said. “I thought that my ideal job would be working for a medium-sized city, where there was always a lot of activity going on and a lot of development to be made. But also big enough so that I get a wide variety of subjects to address, transportation, housing and parks and recreation.”

It was also important to him that the town was small enough to where he could have a lot of interaction within the community, he said.

As Dickinson enters retirement, he said he will miss the people and committees he was able to work with during his career.

Dave Gibney said he knows Dickinson as a community member with great influence in Pullman. The two have known each other since the 1980s.

Gibney said he has worked at WSU as a computer systems administrator for about 39 years, as well as the chairperson for the City of Pullman planning commission for about 10 years.

Gibney worked closely with Dickinson. Gibney said Dickinson is a dedicated public servant and has been able to transform Pullman into a well-organized community.

Dickinson said he plans on staying home and staying healthy until COVID-19 is less of a concern. When he and his wife are able to, they plan to travel to places, such as Australia, Hawaii and Colorado. He also plans to give back to the Pullman community whether that is through monetary compensation or volunteer work.