After 27 years as the city of Santa Clarita’s spokeswoman, Gail Morgan is stepping down at the end of December, and Carrie Lujan has been hired to fill the role.

Morgan has been one of the main architects of the city’s public relations efforts, in addition to her many other responsibilities within City Hall.

Lujan comes to Santa Clarita after spending several years as spokeswoman for Santa Monica, where her work also involved community outreach and multimedia operations.

KHTS AM-1220 spoke with both Morgan and Lujan, as Morgan answered questions about her past experiences watching the city grow from its infancy and Lujan discussed her perception of the city from afar and outlook on the new job.

From a previous story: Santa Clarita Announces Hiring Of New Spokeswoman

Gail Morgan said City Manager Ken Striplin offered Carrie Lujan the position about two weeks ago, and the announcement was released over the weekend.

“We’re excited to welcome Carrie Lujan to the City of Santa Clarita,” Striplin said in a prepared statement. “She brings a great combination of professional experience to the job and will be instrumental in helping to develop dynamic communications programs that will enable the city to provide timely and accurate information to the media, business and community members.”

Lujan comes to Santa Clarita by way of the city of Santa Monica, where she worked as spokeswoman, as well as the manager for public information, as well as the cable television manager. She also worked as a consultant for Providence Health and Services.

Morgan says goodbye at the end of December after 27 years with the city, she said Monday, which was Lujan’s start date.

The city reviewed more than 200 applications when the position opened up, which was then whittled down to 17, and then six applicants, who were interviewed by three panels.

Prior to her public sector career, Lujan worked for nine years in the private sector in public relations, with positions including account executive and senior account executive.  She also worked as a reporter and producer for three years in television news.

Lujan earned her bachelor’s degree in speech communications from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has several affiliations with national communications organizations.

Lujan can be reached via email at: clujan@santa-clarita.com.