Waco swears in Ryan Holt as city manager; Holt highlights winter-storm response

Ryan Holt was sworn in as Waco’s city manager at the start of the Feb. 3 work session and addressed the City Council about his team’s response to a recent winter storm.

Holt, who joined the dais for his first official meeting, repeated the oath to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution” and later thanked city employees for their work during the storm. “We opened 3 warming centers,” Holt said, and credited the Office of Emergency Management and multiple city departments for coordinating response and communications.

Holt told the council that the city avoided major power outages and that public-safety, infrastructure, public works, animal services, the call center, facilities, fleet and IT staff all helped maintain essential services. He described an early personnel decision during the storm — allowing employees time off when they could not safely reach worksites — as an example of operational judgment under emergency conditions.

The mayor and council also recognized staff who supported storm operations; Mayor Jim Holmes noted Holt’s first week placed him into immediate action, and several council members praised the city’s emergency response and commended staff for quick coordination.

Holt also used the manager’s report to preview items coming later on the agenda and to introduce new department leadership and administrative items. He announced the appointment of Lisa Blackman as chief destination development officer, effective the day before the meeting.

The meeting recessed to a work session for departmental reports and later moved to executive session at 4:35 p.m. on matters of real property, economic development and attorney briefing.