The city I now call home needs to make a New Year’s resolution. I am not aware of any effort at City Hall to do so … so I’ll offer one of my own.

Princeton, Texas, needs to resolve that 2024 is the year when it locates a municipal identity. It needs to define it clearly, put it in writing if need be.

Then, under the guidance of an aggressive and progressive city council — and a city manager the council will hire eventually — Princeton should begin to develop that identity. It needs to make it a reality. It needs to say out loud and with crystal clarity that Princeton will become more than just a place where developers build houses.

One thing the city could do is establish a sister city relationship with a community overseas. Farmersville, a much smaller community about seven miles east of us, did so recently when it became a municipal “sister” to Holtzwihr, France. The two cities have someone in common: Audie Murphy, the highly decorated soldier who received the Medal of Honor for effectively saving the French village single-handedly from German troops laying seige near the end of World War II.

Murphy declared that Farmersville was his hometown when he enlisted in the Army. So it was a natural fit. Farmersville celebrates its famed son every summer with Audie Murphy Day.

I don’t know if Princeton has an obvious peg such as Farmersville. But surely it can develop a municipal relationship overseas to advance the city’s identity abroad.

I like living in Princeton, which continues to enjoy tremendous growth. Derek Borg, the former city manager, told me once he believed the city’s posted population of 17,027 residents was outdated before the signs went up along U.S. 380.

Borg is gone from public office. The city still hasn’t chosen a strategy to find a new manager. Time is a wastin’, folks.

An aggressive, progressive city executive ought to be charged with finding an identity to adorn the city’s profile.

So … let’s get busy. Shall we?