Mayor Vicki Warren offers New Year message

Vicki Warren,
Mayor of Canyon Lake

I love the holidays and enjoy celebrating all of them with friends and family – from President’s Day to Thanksgiving and everything in between. Of course, Christmastime is always wonderful, but to me, it’s hard to beat Memorial Day and how we welcome summer here in our little bit of paradise. Still, even that’s not my favorite.

My most favorite day of the year is Jan. 1. I love going into a new year because each new year brings new hope and a new beginning. Some people use that day to kind of reboot, setting new goals and new resolutions to improve themselves. For others, it is a welcome chance to say goodbye to what was, perhaps, not the best year of their lives. And still, others look back on a year filled with accomplishments, looking forward to doing even greater things in the coming year.

For me, Jan. 1 has often been a mixture of all of those. I’m sometimes happy to see a year pass that has brought hard times and sometimes thrilled to see the coming of a new year so I can continue to enjoy all the best from the passing year.

In 2017, I reveled in some personal accomplishments, enjoyed good health and picked up a new hobby that I greatly enjoy. I made new friends and deepened relationships with old friends. I just celebrated 21 years with a man I absolutely adore and had the pleasure of watching our two sons continue to grow into amazing humans. And I beamed with the rest of the city when we reopened our fire station.

All in all, it was a very good year, so this is one of those times I have the pleasure of looking forward to more of the same.

Still, even that is not why I am so excited about leaping into 2018.

I was, and am, especially excited for the transition from 2017 to 2018 because of all that I want to do for the City of Canyon Lake and her citizens.

I have been on the Canyon Lake City Council for three years and this will be my first time sitting in the mayor seat. With that change comes greater responsibility, such as conducting the city council meetings, signing the minutes after each meeting and attending a few additional meetings outside the city. None of that sounds too thrilling, or all that challenging. You got me there.

No, the real challenge is keeping our fire station open, improving our safety and security and continuing to improve the services we provide to the people who live here.

Our community has been changing for some time now and especially since I first moved to Canyon Lake five years ago. We are now a city brimming with young families and people who must travel far to provide for those families. That means that the focus of our city leaders must change to match the goals of our citizens.

We have to look beyond our small stretch of roadway and face the challenge of improving the commute and quality of life for those we represent. We need to evaluate our infrastructure to accommodate a full-time populace. We must continue to work every angle, every grant and every opportunity we can find to provide a safer environment for everyone within our boundaries. And we need to find a way to enlist help from our citizens to shape our little bit of paradise and to build the future leaders of our community.

The future of Canyon Lake looks very bright but there is considerable room for improvement and I am wildly enthusiastic about what is in store for our city and the citizens who call it home.

I am thrilled to welcome 2018 and look forward to working with my fellow councilmembers and the people of this community. Together we can build, shape, grow and maintain all that we want Canyon Lake to be, all the best of what it is, and to enhance all that it has been. Yes indeed, 2018 is going to be a great year.