Happy New Year! It is my honor to serve as your mayor of the great city of Santa Clarita for 2016. We have some terrific programs, projects and services on tap for you this year, and it is my pleasure to share just a few of them with you.

This is a partial list of some of the things we will be working on; for more details, I encourage you to visit our city website at www.santa-clarita.com. You also may wish to view our five year plan at www.SantaClarita2020.com.

* Continue our efforts to permanently prevent large scale mining in Soledad Canyon;

* Identify funding for a new and larger sheriff’s station in the city;

* Develop a funding strategy for the Via Princessa extension between Isabella Parkway and Golden Valley Road;

* Continue the Whittaker Bermite clean-up program with the state and Whittaker;

* Continue the partnerships among the EDC, Chamber, VIA and the city to further strengthen our business community and add more jobs;

* Complete the master plan for the new Canyon Country Community Center and 6.5-acre property;

* Advance the city-owned block development with a Laemmle Theatre and commercial-residential development project with Serrano;

* Continue implementing the Santa Clarita 2020 Plan;

* Work with the Senior Center and the county to build a new Senior Center in the Five Knolls community;

* In concert with the Saugus community, select a site for the new Saugus Community Center and begin master plan;

* Continue the city’s efforts to protect our community from a surface route for the California High Speed Rail project;

* Begin implementing the new Arts Master Plan;

* Increase the city’s budget reserves to 20 percent.

Thank you for your interest and participation in our city. I look forward to serving you this year. I can be reached at bkellar@santa-clarita.com.

Bob Kellar is mayor of the city of Santa Clarita.