Mayor Malcolm Eaton at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Burnaby.

Busy is the keyword for Humboldt Mayor Malcolm Eaton in recapping the past year, or any year in general.

"Its fun to look back on the year and see the things we have accomplished and progress we have made," he said.

With the city continually evolving, Eaton was quite complimentary to many organizations who put on events, highlight the city, or even help serve.

He noted Partners Family Services for their Walk a Mile In Her Shoes event that saw many don red heels and walk down Main Street, raising awareness to end gender violence.

Other highlight events for Eaton in 2015 included the Saskatchewan Hockey Hall of Fame holding their induction ceremony at the Elgar Petersen Arena, as well as the Humboldt Fire Department who once again hosted the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighters Association fire school.

"The fire department continues to work on their training and improving the department after the study was done last year. Really pleased to see the work they are doing," added Eaton.

Also receiving a word of thanks from the Mayor was the Chamber of Commerce for their support of businesses, organizations and individuals with the Mark of Excellence awards, as well as the Business Improvement District for their continuous outlook to revitalize Humboldt's downtown core.

"We're really fortunate in Humboldt to have such an active community (with) people involved taking leadership roles and really making things happen."

In turning to what is ahead in 2016, Eaton touted the many projects currently on the go which will help Humboldt continue to expand.

"We have a number of housing projects on the go and in the planning stages. We have some more land development projects in the planning stages, and I know there is some interest in some new business in the commercial sector."

While the potash market is in a dip, Eaton believes that the area will continue to greatly benefit from the resource.

"We continue to work very closely with BHP and PCS, and certainly know the potash industry is an important part of our future, and even though potash is in a bit of a slump right now, certainly our potash mines and development of the new BHP mine is working and still going forward, and those long term plans are a big part of Humboldt's long term plans."

A significant part of further building and developing Humboldt and area is the government. In 2016, voters will cast ballots twice. First in April, when the 28th provincial election is held, and once again in October for municipal decisions.

Eaton said that council will use the time period leading up to April's provincial election to examine which party is best suited for Humboldt's vision.

"The provincial election is going to be a welcome opportunity for us to hear from both our MLA as well as from the other political parties in the province," Eaton noted. "We certainly want to take a look at what that means for Humboldt and area."

Following the decision of who will run the province in April, attention begins to turn to local elections, which Eaton stated will be quite exciting.

"When that election occurs in the fall, we're certainly going to be interested in people putting forward the ideas and vision they have for our community and the kind of response our community has, and it is going to create lots of interesting dialogue and lots of interesting ideas."