Optimism springs eternal when a new year comes around. Resolutions, challenges and goals are established, people might start new routines, and our town continues to bustle the next few months as even more winter visitors descend on our burg to escape colder climes around the country (although it’s been rather cold here for us the past few weeks).

Fountain Hills, like the rest of the nation, continues to recover from the Great Recession, though some sectors still might be slower than others.

While the declining student enrollment situation in our School District will remain an issue well into 2016, the new residential construction occurring in town right now will bode well for the community on an immediate basis as well as long term.

New condominiums in FireRock, the huge Adero Canyon residential development and some commercial activity in the downtown area will hopefully spur more growth into the future.

The town is systematically taking care of our infrastructure needs – Saguaro Blvd. paving, for example, and other street maintenance – and in the planning stages to relocate a fire station to better serve the community.

The overall business climate seems to be picking up here, and a revitalized Chamber of Commerce is being a positive influence on economic development and business retention. Tourism and special events continue to be critical factors here.

We look forward to a planned community survey early in 2016 conducted by the Fountain Hills Vision group – part of the Fountain Hills Cultural & Civic Association – and a town hall workshop it will conduct in May. This will help in determining what kind of community we want to become in the next decade.

So, as the new year has already dawned, we urge citizens to stay engaged and stay active in Fountain Hills throughout the year – our schools, our clubs, our politics, our businesses, our faith community. Many things appear to have a bright future as 2016 gets off to a positive start.