The citizens of Vincent can now proudly call themselves residents of the city of Vincent.

After sharp-thinking city leadership realized the 2010 U.S. Census population count of 1,988 Vincent residents was too low, the Census Bureau did a recount and came up with 2,003 residents and 901 housing units — high enough to be considered a city, rather than a town.

Had it not been for some quick eyes, Vincent might have had to wait another 10 years to be counted as a city.

It turned out that Census Bureau officials were looking at a map of Vincent with the very top folded down, which resulted in about 15 people being left out of the original count.

However, just catching the error wasn’t enough. Vincent leadership had to appeal the erroneous population count with the U.S. Census Bureau, which meant about a year of hard work before the count could be changed.

Vincent officials put a lot of work into applying for various local, state and federal grants, which have helped pay for necessities such $225,000 for the city’s new fire truck, purchased last year, and $400,000 to help repair Autumn Drive, long considered one of the worst roads in Shelby County.

Vincent may see one of the most important benefits in being a city rather than a town when it comes time to write more grants.

Marler said some of the grants awarded to cities “are a little bit better” than grants awarded to towns.

For Vincent, any potential benefit when it comes to getting money to improve the town is a big step in the right direction.

We congratulate Vincent, its leaders and its citizens on its official recognition as a city, and we hope the City Council will vote to change the name to “city of Vincent,” rather than remaining the “town of Vincent.”

As Marler said, city leadership worked hard to make it happen. That hard work should be honored.

The We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.