During his final City Council meeting as City Manager, Luke Serpa was recognized by both the Clovis City Council and the Fresno Irrigation District (FID).
Serpa began his career in the City of Clovis in 2005 when he was hired as the Assistant Public Utilities Director. In 2013, Serpa was promoted to Director of Public Utilities.
It was during his tenure at this position that the FID saw first hand how much Luke would work to keep Clovis and the district closely connected.
General Manager of the FID, Bill Stretch, spoke about the impact Serpa had on his work.
“I’ve worked with the district for over 25 years, and Clovis and FID have always had a very, very good, strong relationship and I would like to say that it was strengthened when Luke took over as Public Utilities Director nine years ago,” Stretch said. “That’s when I first met Luke. As a young, upcoming leader in the organization, we look to, and point to, leaders that we aspire to be like. Luke Serpa is definitely one of the two or three people that I hold in that regard, and I’ve always held him in high regard.”
Since 2017, Serpa has served as the City Manager. According to the proclamation created for Serpa, under his leadership the city has become financially stronger. On top of this financial growth, over 95% of residents voted, under Serpa’s tenure, that Clovis is recommended as a place to live.
In the proclamation, Mayor Jose Flores was quoted about the impact Luke had during his entire tenure with the City of Clovis.
“Luke Serpa has provided invaluable leadership in Clovis for over 16 years,” Flores said. “He has seen the City through a historic drought and developed long-term water sustainability solutions as well as guided the City through the challenging pandemic whole maintaining excellent services for the citizens of Clovis. The City has flourished under his leadership with expanded economic growth and infrastructure improvements that will serve the City for decades to come. While Luke has earned his retirement, he will be sorely missed by the City.”
To recognize the work of the now retired City Manager, the City of Clovis officially proclaimed Dec 30th as Luke Serpa Day.
Serpa was presented with a plaque from the FID and a Proclamation Certificate by the City Council. Councilmember Drew Bessinger also presented Serpa with a small gift as a thank you for his service.
Serpa was given a moment to address both Stretch and the City Council. Serpa was nothing short of grateful to the FID.
“First Bill, thank you for the recognition,” Serpa said. “I think that working with FID really has been easy. We have different missions, but I think we both strive to do the right thing for our region and we have tried as best as possible to prevent it from becoming an urban versus rural thing and I think we’ve been pretty successful. Hopefully both of our agencies have come out stronger because of our efforts.”
Serpa also took time to thank Mayor Flores and the council.
“For this proclamation, I want to thank council for giving me the opportunity,” Serpa said. “Five years ago, to become City Manager, and to have faith and confidence in me. And I want to thank my staff. You guys are going to find out that I think anybody could probably sit in this seat with the staff I have and do a pretty good job with it. We have a tremendous staff, from the department heads down to the newest people that really have bought into the idea that we provide the maximum level of service we can and we do the right thing.”
Luke ended his speech by recognizing John Holt as the new City Manager saying, “I know I leave the City in good hands.”