From left: City Manager Chad Nehring, 2024 30-year Award Recipient Donna Dugger, and Police Chief Ricky King
November 7, 2025 (Photo Album) - The City of Center celebrated their employees with a banquet to recognize their dedication on Friday, November 7 at the John D. Windham Civic Center. The theme of the night was Roaring 20s followed by a casino night of fun.
City of Center Manager Chad Nehring addressed the employees about the number of changes made lately, “Every once in a while you have to slow down, pause, regroup, so you can start new and fresh. We’ve got a lot of new fresh faces, a lot of new leadership, a lot of new people in new positions. While sometimes change makes you a little nervous, it’s nice when it turns out well and you figure out it’s not just something different, it’s better sometimes most of the time. I look forward to another year of growth and another year of continued change. The more we change, the more we are able to improve. And I do appreciate everybody’s dedication, I appreciate everything that you do for the city, for the citizens.”
Mayor David Chadwick then spoke, “I think we have an awful lot to be proud of, I have never heard more compliments about our city than I have in the last four or five years and that is rather rewarding.” He then shared a story about last week when he and other council members attended the TML (Texas Municipal League) meeting. During the awards, Mayor Chadwick shared when the Mayor of Fort Worth was giving the welcome she mentioned Center to their surprise thinking ‘how does she know Center?’ To all of their surprise Center received a shoutout from TML because they had heard how wonderful the city was doing. He finished saying, “It’s those types of compliments and those things that we see that we are a community being recognized... You make the difference. Your dedication, your determination, your love for your community, your fellow man. What you see someone in need of, you try to answer.”
Leigh Porterfield, Mayor Pro-tem, added, “Every time I get a chance, I just want to tell you how proud we are of you because we do see progress, we see what you are doing. If it weren’t for you, several thousand people would not have the services that they have. So, we depend on you, we are proud of you, and we appreciate you more than we can say.”
From left: 2024 1-year Pin Recipients William Lusk, Zachery Gilpatrick, and Luis Acuna. Not pictured are Jody Garza, Jacob Gross, Brandon Tyler, Hayden Cornelius, and Dion Williams.
Nehring then started presenting awards. Due to the city not having a banquet in 2024, those who achieved employment milestones last year were recognized first. One-year pin recipients were Luis Acuna, Zachery Gilpatrick, Jody Garza, Jacob Gross, Brandon Tyler, William Lusk, Hayden Cornelius, and Dion Williams. Five-year pins were presented to Mitchell Nachman and John Solice. Receiving a 10-year pin was Terry Adkison and a 20-year pin was presented to Amy Lindley. The final 2024 tenure pin presented was to Donna Dugger for 30 years of service.
From left: Chad Nehring and 2024 5-year Pin Recipient John Solice. Not pictured was Mitchell Nachman.
From left: Chad Nehring and 2024 10-year Pin Recipient Terry Adkison
From left: 2024 20-year Pin Recipient Amy Lindley and Chad Nehring
Next, the 2025 service awards were presented. For one-year, pins were given to Heather Clevenger, Samantha Williams, and Patrick Christian. Five-year service pins were given to John Clevenger and Erik Herrera. Two 10-year service recipients were recognized and they were Andrew Williams and Jason Mitchell. The final 2025 awards presented were to Derrick Lightfoot, Joseph Mitchell, and Marcus Cameron for 20 years of service.
From left: 2025 1-year Pin Recipients Heather Clevenger and Samantha Williams. Not pictured was Patrick Christian.
The final employees recognized at the banquet before the casino fun began were new hires. They are Marcus Duffee (fire fighter), Irais Moreno (dispatch), Amber Earl (police officer), Robert Bloys (maintenance), Erica Santana (civic center part-time), Eric Gonzalez (street department), Jacob Garcia (parks part-time), Pablo Valdez (finance assistant), and Jada Williams (cash collections).
From left: Chad Nehring and 2025 5-year Pin Recipients Erik Herrera and John Clevenger.
From left: Chad Nehring and 2025 10-year Pin Recipients Daniel Zorn, Jason Mitchell, and Andrew Williams.
From left: Chad Nehring and 2025 20-year Pin Recipients Joseph Mitchell and Derrick Lightfoot.
