Today is the start of a new year.

New Year’s Day is seen by some as a time when some folks decide to start anew with resolutions to improve and changes in their lives they hope will make them better people.

For me, it’s a time to rest and recover from a two-week cycle of nonstop hurrying as we tried to get three days of papers done in two. A time when I feed my college football addiction watching nonstop gridiron action. The bowls are the one time of the year I have no prejudices when it comes to the SEC. I pull for all SEC teams in bowls, even if it means lowering my standards and cheering for Ole Miss and Alabama.

It’s also a time when I look back on the past year and the stories I covered with an eye toward doing a better job watching the people I write about.

And this year has been extremely interesting with the confrontations between Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and the aldermen and his attempts to amend or rework the city charter and with Fire Chief Charles Atkins over firefighter overtime.

There were also discussions over the Kuhn Memorial Hospital property concerning the city’s decision to accelerate plans to raze the two buildings and clean the property in the wake of the death of Sharen Wilson who was killed in one the hospital buildings and whose body was left on the property. The board is still in the process of seeking money to do the work.

Covering city government is a challenge, especially when it comes to the commission form of government Vicksburg has. There are the city ordinances I must refer to when the Board of Mayor and Aldermen take action on an item, and there are the state laws the city must follow concerning purchases and contracts for construction or services like engineers and consultants.

And negotiating that maze of laws and policies to learn exactly what our city fathers has always been an enjoyable exercise for me, because it brings out the lessons in research I learned taking history in college, where the professors were always assigning term and mid-term papers, and closely reading each to ensure you did your research. Baffling my professors with “bull” was not a smart thing to do.

So as I sit back this year and look at my work in 2015, I’ll ask myself about things that possibly could have been done better and make the one resolution I do every year to eliminate mistakes and think more about the issues I write about.

After all, I have to get ready for a new year of challenges and 2016 is starting off with a major news story — the predicted rise of the Mississippi that will affect Vicksburg and Warren County residents, even those who are not forced out of their homes by high water.

As I and my co-workers get ready to attack the challenges of the pending flood and the new year, let me wish you a Happy New Year.