Amelia Joan Rietzel, a former longtime employee of the city of Santa Clarita, died Thursday, October 4, 2018. She was 53.

During her work with the city from 1992 to 2008, Amelia made a profound impression on her coworkers and a positive impact on the community as a whole. She held several positions with the city including management analyst and environmental services manager.

Amelia was instrumental in citywide strategic planning, and as a cyclist, one of her proudest accomplishments was bringing the Amgen Tour of California to Santa Clarita. She was also instrumental in creating the business plan that led to the city's first communications division. Through her years of hard work, she helped to make Santa Clarita the beautiful city it is today.

Amelia leaves behind the love of her life, Ryan, her husband, of Valencia; her two daughters, Hannah, 18, and Becca, 13; and her mother, who wrote the following to the City Council and staff:

"Amelia was so proud to work for Santa Clarita, a city that she loved. She spoke often of how honored she felt to work with such a truly brilliant and world-class team in helping to serve the city. Although she followed her conscience by leaving her position to focus on her girls, there always remained a yearning to be participating with you at the heart of the action. Thank you all for enriching the life of our Amelia."

Amelia will be greatly missed.