What in the name of tumult and tempest is going on at Princeton City Hall? I’m not covering it directly, but sources inside the place tell me there’s major chaos afoot.

Get a load of this: The city in the course of about three weeks has fired its legal counsel, lost its fire chief, who left to join another city’s fire department, accepted the sudden resignation of its interim city manager and then appointed its chief of police as its newest interim chief municipal executive.

All of this comes as the city awaits another Census Bureau report on municipal growth and Princeton, I am told, is likely to learn that it retains its standing as the fastest-growing city in the United States of America.

All of this has me shaking my noggin and wondering whether the city ever will be able to wrap its arms around the confusion that permeates City Hall.

Of the personnel upheaval that has upset city governance, the resignation of the city manager perhaps is most stunning. The mayor, Victor Escobar, had expressed supreme confidence in the fellow they hired to succeed Mike Mashburn, who resigned just short of being on the job for two years. Mashburn wasn’t cutting it, so he quit effective immediately. There was no “buyout” associated with his resignation, which tells me the City Council is glad he’s gone.

Then came the decision to elevate Police Chief Jim Waters as interim city manager, giving Waters a second full-time job in addition to protecting Princeton’s residents against bad guys. Maybe it’s just me, but I am trying to understand how Waters will be able to do both jobs well enough to maintain a firm grip on the issues that affect either of them.

Last I heard, the city slapped a building ban on new residential construction to enable the city shore up its police and fire protection. Then it had to reinstate the construction because the Legislature slapped limits on the number of such bans cities could invoke. The city still lacks sufficient police and fire protection because of the growth explosion that is still underway.

City governance is no walk in the park. In Princeton, Texas — a place I am proud to call home — such governance seems to be getting dangerously close to impossible.