By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The picture you see attached to this blog well might contain the face of change in the town my wife and I call home.

She is Princeton, Texas, Mayor Brianna Chacon. She is brand new on the job, having just been elected on Nov. 3 in a special election to fill out the remainder of a former mayor’s term.

I am preparing a lengthy profile of Chacon for KETR-FM public radio, but I want to share something that occurred today at the end of a conversation she and I had sitting under a shelter in front of the neighborhood Starbucks coffee shop. It’s worth mentioning because I cannot recall a political leader ever asking me this question.

It was this: As a  resident and taxpayer of Princeton, what do you want me to do as mayor?

I told her two things that came to my mind. One was that I want to see tangible progress in the development of what passes for Princeton’s downtown business district. Take my word for it: There ain’t much there. I mentioned that in my many years on this good Earth, I have discovered that successful cities have at least one thing in common: a thriving, vibrant downtown district. The second thing dealt with the amount of money my wife and I spend for water; it’s too great a price. I told the mayor we pay too much each month during the summer to water our lawn.

OK, none of this is a terribly huge deal. Except that the young mayor, who has yet to preside over her first city council meeting, seemed quite sincere in asking me what I expect of her.

I want this blog post to reflect how much I appreciate her asking that question of someone to whom she now answers. This community is full of thousands of diverse opinions of those who live here. We all want different things from our city government.

I hope she’s taking copious notes.

Good luck to you, Mme. Mayor.