Sometimes it is hard to believe it’s been this long – and other times it’s hard to believe it’s ONLY been this long – but July marked my second full year as editor of the Renton Reporter.

And all in all, I’m pretty pleased with how it went. My fellow Renton Reporter readers, the state of our paper is strong.

Since I checked in last year around this time, the Reporter received a second-place General Excellence award from the Washington Newspaper Publisher’s Association. That means only one other paper in our circulation class (the largest) was considered a better overall paper than the one you are reading right now.

As editor, I was even more proud to read what the judges had to say. They cited the Renton Reporter’s use of photos and graphics and noted our “strong local coverage” and the way the editorial page dealt with “hot issues.”

We in the newsroom strive every week to bring you the best, most complete look at the week’s news, features and information – and we try to do it with some style through photos and graphics – and it was nice to be recognized for our efforts by our fellow newspaper people.

In addition to the General Excellence award, I also received a first-place award for “Best General Feature Story, Long” for my “Firefighter for a Day” piece, a first-person account of a day’s worth of firefighter training  and a second-place award in the “Best Government Reporting” category for a story about residents at the Riverbend Mobile Home Park, which was purchased by the county. Judges cited the follow-through to get the personal stories of those affected.

Again, I was proud of that one and proud the judges noticed we try to go the extra mile to get to how these stories affect our residents and readers, instead of just giving a quick-hit headline.

This past year also found the Renton Reporter in the middle of some important discussions around our city.

Over the course of three weeks in January, we put together a series titled “Can Ferguson Happen Here?” Written and reported by reporter Tracey Compton, we went to the police, the administration and community leaders and simply asked the question.

What we found through our reporting was that while there are some definite concerns in the community about policing in general and the relationships between the police and the citizens, Renton is actively trying to ensure that events like those do not happen here through a change in use-of-force tactics, as well as a general mindset.

That became evident when following the completion of our series and the publication of a column wrapping it all up that questioned some comments made by the then-police guild president, Chief Kevin Milosevich responded with a column of his own condemning the guild president’s comments, which we and many others saw as insensitive.

I’m not going to lie, when the city asked for space to respond to the editorial, the column we got was NOT what I was expecting (for the record, we’d have published the column even if it took us to task) and was a nice surprise.

Our series was also cited by the mayor in his State of the City this year and helped spur a Teen Summit that brought together community religious leaders, teenagers and police for an honest discussion of race and the use of force by police.

It was a great day and we were proud to have been a part of it.

Two years ago when I first took over as editor, I said I hoped to “re-boot” the paper and like last year, while I feel that we have had some success, we are still working every week to improve this paper to make it a better experience for you, the reader.

After all, this is your paper, telling your story. We are just the stewards of it.

With that in mind, we launched a series of new features and ideas. Some caught on, others did not.

Last year we added garden columnist Marianne Binetti to the paper and it’s been a welcome addition. I, for one, find something in her column each week that I apply to my own garden or yard.

We also saw the return of columnist Carolyn Ossorio and her new “Hot from the Oven!” column, which is showing us some of the tastier spots in the city and offering great recipes and advice.

Our Ask A Doctor column also continues to grow, bringing important information about top medical issues, from protecting against the flu to Seasonal Affected Disorder and post-pardum depression, as well as the importance of staying hydrated and this week’s column on the dangers of concussions, vitally important information as the fall sports season gets ready to start.

But we are not resting on our laurels. We believe we can be better.

One of the things we’re starting this month, for example, are new regular internal sections.

We began last week with “Entertainment,” which will be published on the first Friday of every month. We’re hoping to give you a look at some of the fun that can be had around Renton in the upcoming month.

This week, you see the first of our monthly “Business” sections where we hope to highlight the businesses and issues affecting our business community, as well as tell you a bit about some of the new businesses opening in the city.

Next week, we launch our “Seniors” section, a readership that sometimes gets overlooked but will now be highlighted each month with its own section front.

We also have some ideas for a few new features we hope you will help out with. The ideas are “Hidden Renton” and “Ask the Reporter.”

With the first, we are looking to discover (or re-discover) some of the unique places, people and shops that make Renton what it is. We’d love to hear your suggestions: What is your favorite little spot in the city and why do people need to know about it?

Similarly, we find that we often get phone calls or emails with questions about things going or around Renton, things that may not be news stories, but are still interesting. We know there are some things our readers wonder about in the city but do not have time to research themselves. Please, send us your question. We’ll look into it and publish the answer for you.

We are also hoping to continue the “hot issues” that were cited on our editorial pages and we would like to encourage you to write in with concerns, opinions or whatever else is on your mind. We love it when the editorial page becomes a place for discussion and we’d like to see more of that.

This year, for example, is an election year and we would like to encourage readers to write in and tell us who they support and why. We will, of course, be doing our own election coverage, but we still want to hear from you.

We will run letters endorsing candidates; however, we ask that you not use the letters page to attack another candidate. We will accepting letters on issues and candidate up through the week before the election; however any letters that come in during the final week that require a response from a candidate will not be run.

And as always, we want to her from you, the readers. Do not hesitate to phone or email or even stop on by the office. My door is always open and I love hearing from readers, even ones who may disagree or want to complain.

After all, as I have said, it is your paper.

We have also increased our Facebook footprint in the past year, so please continue to connect with us there as well.

So thanks for everything this past year Renton. We look forward to what the future brings and look forward to being a part of that future.

So here’s to Renton! Once more around the sun, Jeeves!