A Smooth Transition

John Holt (right) will be taking over for Luke Serpa (left) as the next City Manager of Clovis starting January 2022. (Karl Cooke Jr./Clovis Roundup)

From one City Manager to the next, John Holt will be taking over for Luke Serpa as the next City Manager of Clovis starting January 2022.

On October 25th, Clovis Roundup had the privilege to sit down with John Holt and Luke Serpa to discuss the transition and to get to know more about them.

Holt has over 20 years working with the City of Clovis and looks to continue to provide the best services to the city. When asked about his immediate reaction to learning he’d be the next City Manager, Holt was excited and more than that, emotional.

“It was pretty late at night [city council] brought us in and let us know that I had been selected,” Holt said. “My immediate response was a little bit emotional and maybe a little bit of fear, just because of the responsibility I’ve seen Luke [Serpa] endure over the past five years and realizing I’m going to have to be dealing with that over the next several years.

Even though there is some fear, Holt is ready for the challenge. This confidence comes from serving in the Navy for 30 years. Five years were spent on active duty and another 25 in reserve. 

“Most people don’t know that. My leadership style is a little bit different just because I kind of grew up in the military.”

When times get tough, Holt finds ways to destress so he’s always ready for the challenges that may lie in the day ahead of him. He likes to take the time to workout and play golf with his kids to get away from the stress of a hard day’s work. These activities will help him as the City of Clovis looks to hand him the reigns from Luke Serpa.

Serpa has served the City of Clovis for nearly 20 years. He has been City Manager since 2017 and plans to retire in December of this year. When asked about retirement, Serpa was ready, but wants to be sure things are taken care of before he finishes his term.

“I’ve been making sure I don’t get my heart too set,” Serpa said. “I don’t wanna think about ‘I’m retiring’. I don’t wanna be that guy that kicks everything down the road and punts everything to January. It’s one of those things where….I’m ready, I think I’m ready, but I won’t know for sure until….it’s still hard for me to picture not working, not being in a 24/7 position. But, I’m looking forward to it.”  

Once retirement becomes official, Serpa is ready for some rest and relaxation. He plans on taking some vacation time and looks forward to not needing his phone with him all the time as the City Manager job title can be a 24/7 job. 

“I’m looking forward to traveling. I’m looking forward to a day where I’m not checking my phone. It’s a wonderful organization and we have many talented people, but vacations, weekends, I’m still married to my phone so now I’m looking forward to…not being that.”

When asked about what he’ll miss the most, Serpa stated he’ll miss working with the people in the City of Clovis. 

“We have our weekly meetings here, the department head meetings, Monday mornings and it would almost be great for the public to see these people in action and know the quality of people that they have working for them. There’s a reason I think that we’re successful as a city. It’s the people that sit around this table Monday morning and work together to make Clovis the way it is.” 

Once Holt becomes the official City Manager, it will be a smooth transition between the two representatives since Holt has seen the transition from one manager to the next two other times and saw when Luke became the City Manager in 2017. As Serpa states, “He’s got more experience with the city than I do. He knows the challenges facing him better than I do.” 

The Clovis Roundup would like to personally thank Mr. Luke Serpa for his service to the community and we wish him a happy retirement. We also want to thank Mr. Holt for all his years of service to our country and to our community.  We congratulate Mr. John Holt on his new role as City Manager and look forward to working with him to help keep our readers informed. We thank both Mr. Serpa and Mr. Holt for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with us and we wish them both good luck!

I am 27 years old, born and raised in Fresno, California. I am the youngest of 4 kids and am a full time student at Fresno State University. I am happily engaged to be married to my fiance Daniella. My favorite sports teams are the L.A Rams, Dodgers and Lakers. I have two dogs and one cat. I have my own podcast called “The Two Minute Warning” Podcast that you can listen to on any platform that you listen to your podcasts.