I have sincerely enjoyed serving as Mayor this past year. I first served as Mayor in 2007, then in 2011, and now in 2015, and I have seen our city grow and blossom. We have had some significant accomplishments this past year that I’d like to share with you.

We opened two new city parks—River Village Park in the Saugus area and Golden Valley Park off Newhall Ranch Road and Golden Valley Road. We also opened a new roadway, extending Golden Valley Road between Plum Canyon and Newhall Ranch Road. At Central park, we completed the design of a new tennis center. In Valencia, Old Orchard Park will soon be renovated, thanks to a new master plan that was created in collaboration with the community.

We added 258 acres of open space to our Open Space Preservation District and completed the public outreach process for a new and larger Community Center in Canyon Country on 6.5 acres of newly purchased land at Soledad Canyon and Sierra Highway.

A new Saugus Library Center is on the horizon, and this month, we’ll unveil our new Arts Master Plan. Our Film Incentive Program yielded over $15 million in estimated economic impact to our community, with location filming at an all-time high.

I’m very proud that we were able to get the post office back into Newhall, as well as advance our efforts to protect our communities from negative impacts of the State’s proposed High Speed Rail Project.

I was pleased that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti accepted my invitation to hold his quarterly Los Angeles County Mayors’ meeting in Santa Clarita this past October. These meetings allow L.A. County cities to come together to work on important regional issues.

One of my favorite aspects of living in Santa Clarita is all of the wonderful festivals and events, which offer free and low-cost family entertainment such as: The 2015 annual Cowboy Festival that attracted thousands to Old Town Newhall where nationally-renowned western performers entertained locals and visitors. We also hosted our annual Earth Arbor Day event at Central Park, plus the Emergency Expo at the Hyatt, and of course our popular concert series every Saturday night during the summer.

I want to encourage you to visit Main Street in Old Town Newhall this holiday season where we have decorated our downtown with thousands of lights, two skylines featuring Santa and his reindeer, plus a 23-foot fully decorated Christmas tree in front of the Old Town Newhall Library. (Visit www.oldtownnewhall.com for a list of free and low cost activities slated for the holiday season).

I’m looking forward to seeing some great projects go from the current planning stages to culmination. I hope you continue to stay engaged in the planning process! If you are interested in learning more about the many city programs and projects in the works, if you would like to volunteer, or view any aspect of our city’s on-going programs, please visit us online at: santa-clarita.com.

As one of my last official actions as Mayor, I want to wish all of our residents and families a safe and wonderful New Year. Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments at mmclean@santa-clarita.com.

Marsha McLean is mayor of the city of Santa Clarita.