By Giselle Lee | Staff Writer, Savannah Ford | LTVN Social Media Editor
Just weeks before his 30th year as a serviceman for the city, former Assistant City Manager and Chief of Police Ryan Holt was sworn in as the next city manager of Waco.
LTVN’s Savannah Ford has more details.
Holt, whose career began in the Waco Police Department in 1996, rose up the ranks before being appointed chief of police in 2016 and then assistant city manager in 2019 and now, as of Jan. 23, city manager.
Holt said his appointment is largely a culmination of hard work for the city; however, he credits the city organization and the Waco community for being “incredibly good” to him as an individual and a lifelong municipal official.
“Over the 30 years, I’ve had the great pleasure of developing some very deep relationships in the community at all levels,” Holt said. “I think there’s a term, collective impact, where we can all work together and accomplish great things, and I think those relationships help us do that.”
Holt described the journey to city manager through his previous roles as a “good foundation.”
“Coming up through the police department and really being out on the front lines gives you a real view of what local government can provide to our residents, our citizens, [and] our visitors,” Holt said. “And as assistant city manager for the last six years, I got to work across all 26 departments and get a feel for the importance of all the work that every single city employee engages in.”
Moving forward, Holt hopes to double down on constituent and stakeholder engagement and grow the city in a way that makes Waco a better place to live, work and play. As for how Baylor students will be impacted, Holt said he strives to look for additional ways to partner with the university, most notably through growing student engagement with the local Waco community.
“We’re starting to see a lot of Baylor students that graduate, maybe go to graduate school and go away for a little while and come back because they love Waco so much,” Holt said. “I hope that we can expand the number that stay here to engage. I think Waco has a lot to offer.”
Parker sophomore Lucy Dennis, the public relations committee chair for Baylor’s student government, shares similar hopes of seeing the university increase collaborative work with the Waco community, focusing on wanting students at the forefront of public service engagement.
“I think it’s nice to integrate the Baylor community with the whole of Waco and for Baylor students not to feel like temporary residents but actual stakeholders in the city,” Dennis said. “There’s opportunities to engage with [the] rest of the Waco community, whether that’s some small businesses or in church communities or even the class or internship experience — those things can be really valuable for students.”
As Holt takes office with Phase A of the Waco Downtown Redevelopment Project underway, Dennis emphasized the importance of recognizing students that stay in Waco beyond their years at Baylor, describing student voices as “the heart of the city.”
“A lot of students who graduate love Waco so much that they choose to stay, and they end up being future business workers and people who really make their roots in Waco,” Dennis said. “Just being able to provide just support in a place that is safe and welcoming and provides groundwork for students [in] finding their drive, whether or not they came back to Waco, is something that’s always good to keep in mind.”
