LATHROP – Pete Friere gave 20 years of service to the City of Lathrop as a maintenance worker.

And if the Lathrop City Council gives their approval tonight, the city’s new corporation yard and arsenic treatment facility on Louise Avenue will bear his name in honor of his service.

According to a staff report prepared for the members of the council, Friere – who was hired by the City of Lathrop in 1987 – gave a willing 20 years in a department where manual labor and hard work was as routine as the sunrise.

“Peter Friere made other countless contributions to the City by being a resource to our growing community, having an uncompromising commitment to service and setting high standards for his team of maintenance workers,” the report states. “He was an outstanding, committed and caring leader to the maintenance staff and co-workers, as well as a strong supporter of providing staff with individual attention, guidance and encouragement.”

He retired in 2007.

The Parks and Recreation Commission approved the application – submitted by the City – to name the facility after Friere unanimously (they voted 3-0 with two members absent) when they met earlier this month.

If approved by the council, a dedication ceremony and the purchase of a plaque that will hang at the corporation yard will be part the works. Expenses incurred will come out of the Public Works budget.

With a personnel file full of commendations and positive evaluations, Friere seemed like a natural candidate to name the city’s new public works complex after – especially after spending his entire career working out of the small, cramped spaces of the old “house” facility that staff considered a nightmare.

But he also played a part in the construction of many of Lathrop’s most integral projects, including:

• The Lathrop Business Park

• Nestle’s

• The Crossroads Storm Drain

• The Stonebridge Storm Drain

• Well 8 (construction)

• Well 5 (demolition)

• Implementing the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) computer control system over all utility systems (water, storm drain and sewer).

• Improving water storage (fire protection/system demand).

• Breaking ground on development west of I-5.

• Construction of the grade separation on Lathrop Road.

Lathrop instituted a parks and facilities naming program in 2010 which requires an application be submitted and approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission before being forwarded on to the City Council.

The Lathrop City Council meets on the first and third Mondays of the month at Lathrop City Hall – located at 390 Towne Center Drive. Meetings start at 7 p.m., and are broadcast live in Lathrop on Comcast Channel 97. For additional information, or to obtain a copy of the upcoming agenda, visit www.ci.lathrop.ca.us.