Councilors go too far on the recall

The Baker City Council has had a rough summer.

Councilors seem to be getting along better recently, however — on July 28 they unanimously approved the first two readings of a pair of ordinances that had provoked arguments this spring.

Working to get your colleagues fired seems to us a singularly poor way to mend a tattered relationship.

Some recent history:

Divisions and disagreements among the seven council members culminated in their 4-3 vote on June 9 to fire City Manager Steve Brocato.

Pope, Bass and Bryan cast the dissenting votes.

Although we shared some of the concerns about Brocato that the four councilors who voted to fire him cited, we didn’t think the quartet — Dorrah, Calder, Clair Button and Aletha Bonebrake — had justified their conclusion that firing Brocato was the most appropriate option.

It’s hardly surprising that a 4-3 vote on such a crucial matter — the city manager is, in effect, the city’s CEO in the form of government Baker City uses — exacerbated the division between the Council’s two factions.

But in the two months since, we’ve seen encouraging signs that councilors are capable of suspending their differences when necessary to get the city’s business done.

In late July, for instance, the Council voted unanimously to approve the first two readings of the property maintenance code and new sign regulations.

Both ordinances prompted complaints from councilors and citizens when unveiled this spring.

Yet the Council, after discussing each ordinance in a separate work session, negotiated compromises that satisfied all seven councilors.

That’s what we expect from the people we elected to represent us.

We wonder, though, whether a true and lasting reconciliation is possible now that Bass, Pope and Bryan have collected signatures on the recall petitions for Dorrah and Calder.

As for city residents, we wouldn’t blame them for being skeptical about the Council’s ability to deal productively with matters that come before them.

Imagine, for instance, answering a knock on your front door and seeing, on your porch, one city councilor who asks you to support the recall of two of his colleagues.

This would be especially disconcerting for residents who voted for both the signature-gatherer and the target of the recall.

The exercise seems to us unnecessary, and unstatesmanlike.

We don’t doubt that Bass, Pope and Bryan sincerely believe the City Council would be better, and operate more efficiently, without Dorrah and Calder.

But Bass, Pope and Bryan do a disservice to their constituents by taking such a prominent role in the recall campaign.

If the recall makes it to the ballot this fall, those three councilors will have the chance to express their feelings about Dorrah and Calder in the most meaningful way: by voting to remove them from office.

Until then, we’d prefer to see them knocking on doors to find out their fellow voters’ concerns, rather than rallying support for the recall.