The right choice

The Baker City Council can take a collective breath and relax.

That, at least, is something we hope they can agree about.

The Council has dealt with the most pressing matter on its agenda by hiring Steve Bogart as city manager for at least the next year.

This was a wise decision.

It’s budget-planning season for the city, and overseeing that process is one of the manager’s main duties.

Bogart knows how to do that. He worked on the city budget during his 2004-05 stint as manager while Jerry Gillham was serving with the National Guard in Iraq.

In any case the Council had to get a commitment from somebody.

Then Tim Collins, who had served ably as interim manager since June, tendered his resignation last week.

We weren’t surprised.

Although Collins cited conflicts with his PERS benefits, which are temporarily stopped if he works for more than six months in a calendar year, he had also said he was willing to work longer than that if councilors asked him to.

But Collins had also made it clear, during the Council’s Jan. 12 meeting, that he was offended by Mayor Dennis Dorrah’s suggestion that the Council hire Bogart to fill in while the city waited for Johnson, who had yet to formally turn down the job.

So the Council has a competent manager at the helm for 2010.

Now what?

Well, although we’re disappointed that the city spent several thousand dollars last year on what turned out to be a fruitless search for Brocato’s replacement, there’s no cause now for councilors to rush.

They should wait until mid-summer to resume their search for a manager.

Since four of the seven council seats are up for election in November — Dorrah, Andrew Bryan, Beverly Calder and Clair Button — it would be presumptuous for the current Council to hire someone on a long-term basis before the election.

That decision should be left to the seven councilors who will be in office starting in early January 2011.