San Marcos City Manager Bert Lumbreras announced his retirement Sept. 8 in a letter to city staff.

His retirement will be effective Jan. 31.

Lumbreras served in the position since August 2017, capping off a career in city management throughout Central Texas, including as an assistant city manager in Austin. He interned with the city of San Marcos as a college senior at Southwest Texas State University in 1981.

In the letter addressed to city staff, Lumbreras said that he is at a point in his life where other priorities are demanding his attention and that it is something he had been considering for about two years.

“This is all that I have done, have always wanted to do, have had fun doing it, but it is now time for me to do extensive traveling, take on new hobbies and volunteer,” he said in the letter.


He noted key accomplishments for the city during his tenure, including $32 million in voter-approved bond projects, a $44 million new public service center, partnerships with Texas State University that included bike share programs and a collaboration in public transit, among other accomplishments.

At the Sept. 7 San Marcos City Council meeting, council members met with Lumbreras and spent about an hour in a closed executive session addressing the “duties and responsibilities of the city manager” but no announcement was made afterward.

In the letter, Lumbreras noted his roots growing up in San Marcos in a large, low-income family and the way that experience shaped him as well as his pride in being able to finish his career in the city where it began.

“I have been truly blessed but go knowing we have made a difference, given it our best with very little and worked tirelessly to give back to our community,” he said.