Clovis airport manager resigns

CLOVIS — Airport Manager Kyle Berkshire turned in his letter of resignation Monday, saying it was time for him to “go a different direction.”

Berkshire’s resignation is effective Aug. 4, and he said he will take the month following to consider a couple of job offers outside the city employ.

“Unfortunately I am just not going the same direction as the city,” he said Wednesday. “I really don’t want to get too in-depth about it but it’s time for me to go in a different direction.”

Berkshire took the position in Oct. 2015 and said he’s enjoyed it.

“We’ve made a lot of leaps and bounds there in Clovis at the airport. We’ve made a lot of positive changes,” he said.

Interim City Manager Tom Phelps said he “wished (Berkshire) well and appreciated his service at the airport.”

Berkshire said his resignation was “completely unrelated” to the reprimand he received last year from the Federal Aviation Administration regarding a Sept. 20, 2016 flight he made out of Clovis without the proper endorsements.

“That was closed out a long time ago. Basically I had flown to Albuquerque in my aircraft a couple different times and I had the okay from my flight instructor, but the flight instructor never did find the logbook,” he said. “It was made into a big old deal that has nothing to do with me leaving. The city talked to me about it, they said the FAA took care of it and the FAA has said that you are not in trouble.”

Phelps, who assumed his interim city manager position in April, said “the city was aware of the situation and investigated it before it was brought to my attention.”