Looking to bring her longtime community involvement to Santa Clarita’s City Hall, Gloria Mercado-Fortine said she will run for City Council in the April 2014 election.

“I have so many reasons. I am concerned about the future of our city, and its growth, and with growth comes so much diversity and diverse challenges, and with my leadership I believe I’m an inclusive leader,” ” she said, when asked about her plans. “I really am going to step up my service to my community.”

Mercado-Fortine said she was planning a news conference Thursday at 11 a.m., but when asked, she said she wanted to make sure her intentions were clear, and the longtime board member of the William S. Hart Union High School District said she planned to step up her involvement in the community, and that a City Council run was the best way she could do so.

“I believe I’m a collaborator, I’m a problem-solver and I believe tremendously in transparency and I’m tremendously responsible to the community,” she said. “And I’m a public official and servant of the community. I believe in partnerships and I have concerns.”

“I’ve been on local school boards for 25 years,” Mercado-Fortine said, discussing her resume, which includes being a founding member of the Castaic Area Town Council, membership on the Castaic Union School District and four terms on the Hart board.

“We need to look at the larger picture and plan 10, 20, 30 years down the road,” she said. “We’re going to have a very diverse community, and we need to plan for that. We need to prepare for that growth.”