The emotional and exhausting drama focused last week on former Marathon City Manager Clyde Burnett ended the best possible way, considering the circumstances: quickly.
Now Marathon can look toward the future instead of probing the past. Mostly.
The Marathon City Council directed Interim City Manager Peter Rosasco to review a list of candidates from the city's search for a manger two years ago, and to ascertain whether any of those prospects might still be interested in taking over as Marathon's top unelected official.
We see no harm in delving into that aspect of the past, especially since Rosasco also was directed to post a call for other qualified candidates with agencies around Florida.
Furthermore, we hope the previous search can provide another nugget of enlightenment. That search ended abruptly with Burnett's selection, seemingly before the opportunity to properly vet candidates and to more thoroughly gauge them through interviews.
We are in no way connecting last week's dust-up and Burnett's resignation with the abbreviated hunt that ended with his selection. By most accounts, Burnett ran city government efficiently and effectively during his tenure. But denying all other applicants a shot at selling themselves was unseemly at best, dangerous at worst. Council members' personal relationships with a candidate should draw more scrutiny of that person, not less.
We hope this time the council will let the process play out, weighing local and distant applicants alike and examining all options.
Thorough vetting of candidates now can save commissioners from a lot of potential embarrassment a few years down the road.
-- The Citizen