Election Day is a memory and the City Council will have two new members come this January. Congratulations to Wendell Gubler and Ben Shakespeare for their successful campaigns to serve the residents of Santa Clara. I’ve known both these gentlemen for many years, and I look forward to working with each of them over at least the next four years. They both bring many years of community service experience to the Council and their diverse backgrounds will represent residents well during their future council assignments. They will be sworn in at the City Council meeting on January 10, 2018 at 5:00 pm.
I want to publicly express a huge thanks to councilmen Ken Sizemore and Jerry Amundsen who will step aside and make room for the new councilmen. They get the added-bonus of getting their free time back to spend with their families and other pursuits after years of dedicated service to the community. Ken has served the last four years and brought valuable insight and years of experience as a community planner to the council. He served honorably, and we will miss his presence on the council as well as the City representative on the Dixie Metropolitan Planning Organization working on regional transportation issues. Jerry served the City for three terms after being appointed to serve my council seat when I was first appointed to be Mayor. He has been an invaluable asset to the City during that tenure. During the flood events of 2010 and 2012, Jerry was my right hand and his engineering background saved the City thousands of dollars in consultant fees during his term in office. He represented the City for many years on the Washington County Solid Waste Board and the Flood Control Authority Executive Committee. I will particularly miss his soft-spoken voice of reason and his courage to voice his opinion in the face of strong, often vocal opposition during heated council meetings. I feel both gentle-men always had the best interest of the City in mind during their tenure on the City Council.

You may have noticed some beautification projects happening recently. The City Parks Crews have been working with student volunteers from Dixie State University in planting new trees along Santa Clara Drive and in the Cemetery, cleaning up weeds and installing bark mulch at the Cemetery along the south hillside. They also worked in the Arboretum by painting benches and providing trail maintenance. The tree plantings will help clean the air and reduce summer heat. In addition, Cam Esplin completed his Eagle Scout project landscaping a park strip in the Cemetery along the north side next to the Church, including removing the old landscaping and installing water wise plants with new water saving ground cover. The new plants and ground cover will reduce future water requirements. Marcus Puriri completed his Eagle Scout project of landscaping the north-east corner of the Cemetery including removing old landscaping and installing water wise plants with new water saving ground cover. This new landscape also improves the beauty of the Cemetery while reducing summer heat. Keep those volunteers and Eagle Scouts coming, they do great work and really help make the City beautiful.
During this holiday season I hope each of you take time to count your blessings and take a few minutes from your busy schedules to spend additional time with family and enjoy the special spirit this season offers. I hope happiness finds each of you and your loved ones this season and I hope each of your homes will be filled with love and laughter every day in 2018. Merry Christmas Santa Clara, and remember, stay safe.

Mayor Rick Rosenberg: mayor@sccity.org