The Town of Vidalia should pat itself on the back for a tough, but good job that has been well done.

When Vidalia voters chose to oust nearly the entire town leadership in the 2016 municipal elections, the majority of the town clearly wanted an abrupt change in the town’s government.

Frustrations over high utility rates — all of which are operated by the town’s own utility department — and deep concerns of the small town’s big spending habits were the impetus for the abrupt change.

In the year and a half since the new administration took over the reins, many things have changed. The town has gone through extensive spending reductions, working hard to make the town’s expenses come close to meeting the town’s revenues.

Town leaders have also professed an effort to be more transparent about town spending decisions and working clearly within the law to calculate the proper way to handle rebates from the town’s interest in the nearby hydroelectric power plant.

The renewed transparency and the learning curve that comes with so many new faces at the table, led to some tension early in the new administration. Heated exchanges and frustrations bubbled at times. Such is not only expected, it’s a part of truly open government when decisions are discussed passionately and compromised sometimes hammered out with pointed words.

This week, however, town officials received a small stamp of approval in all the work they have done. A relatively clean audit for their first fiscal year together along with the auditor’s note that all the small infractions seem to have been addressed, should give voters assurance that Vidalia’s government has certainly changed and changed for the better.