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Thornton honors graduating students entering military service and names employees and teams of the year
Summary
At its May meeting, the Thornton City Council recognized graduating students who have enlisted in the U.S. armed forces and presented 2025 Employees and Teams of the Year awards, highlighting cross-department projects and recent operational rollouts such as automated metering.
The Thornton City Council on May 1 adopted a resolution honoring graduating students who have chosen to enter U.S. military service and presented the city’s 2025 Employees and Teams of the Year awards.
Council Member Morris introduced the military-service resolution and read remarks thanking students and their families for a “deep sense of duty, honor and commitment.” Several students were invited to the podium to state their names and the branch they will join, including Finn (Navy), Eduardo (Marine Corps), Riley Martin (Marine Corps), Carter (Coast Guard), Marcus Rodriguez (Marine Corps) and others. Mayor Kulmann and multiple council members offered personal congratulations and posed with the students for a group photograph.
City Manager Tanzi Hayward led the presentation of the Employees and Teams of the Year, reading nominations and accomplishments across departments. The awards recognized teams such as the Legal Litigation and Claims team, the Development Code Update team, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) payroll team, the Thornton Video Network production crew, and the Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) team. Hayward said the city employs about 1,500 people and highlighted that a recent satisfaction survey found 75% of respondents rated the city’s quality of life as good or excellent.
Council highlighted specific outcomes attributed to award-winning work: the AMI program, which Hayward said rolled out to customers in 2025 and enabled faster leak detection and self-service; the Development Code Update, described as a major two-year project; and municipal-court digital-workflow changes that reduced paperwork and improved processing. Council members praised the cross-department collaboration that supported major local projects, including economic-development efforts tied to new business expansions.
All recognitions were approved by council vote. The council also used the meeting to adopt proclamations recognizing National Public Works Week, Teacher Appreciation Week and Nurses Week—each read into the record and approved unanimously.
The council’s celebration of service and city staff concluded with photos and audience applause; no substantive policy decisions were made as part of these recognitions.
