Unidentified Speaker used opening remarks to publicly recognize city employees across several departments.

He thanked communications staff Jeff Neuffer and Chuck Licata for expanding the department's social media presence and for alerting residents about emergencies, road closures and storms. "They're letting you know about it, and that's to be commended," he said.

The speaker also highlighted Amy Bush, an administrative employee at the fire department, saying she received an officers award selected by captains and chiefs and that her work helps integrate city-funded programs with the volunteer fire department.

On the finance department, the speaker said it received a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for the comprehensive annual financial report and described a shorter, public-facing budget explanation of about 60 pages with graphics. He said the city was "one of the 36" Texas recipients of the "Bridal Crown" recognition out of roughly 4,000 taxing entities the city could have qualified alongside; the transcript contains a typographical inconsistency about the exact consecutive-year count for the certificate of achievement that was not clarified during the meeting.

The speaker named the finance director (referred to in the remarks as "Ava") and additional finance staff members: Christy Allen, Elizabeth Bailey, Victoria Gottschalk, Rachel Armani and Katie Moses. No motions or formal votes were recorded with these recognitions.