Remember back to former city manager John Salomone's final year or so on the job?

The majority of council, unhappy with the direction Salomone was taking the city and concerned about a budget crisis, instituted strict spending rules that required the manager to get council approval for a wide range of spending and personnel moves. One could argue that system accelerated the deterioration of the relationship between Salomone and his bosses - the city councilors.

It's important for city councilors and current city manager Mark Palesh to avoid a repeat of that dark time for city government. That means the city council needs to allow Palesh to do his job, but Palesh needs to keep lines of communication open with all of the councilors.

Unfortunately, a couple of recent high-profile personnel changes at city hall suggest that the opposite may be happening.

Palesh's decision to take away Cindy Aikman's economic development duties, which ultimately led to her resignation, and to renegotiate city attorney contracts with John Rossi and Andrew Fusco have drawn criticism from councilors David Dempsey and Thomas McNabb. Both councilors have said they were not consulted in the decisions.

It's understandable why the two councilors were upset, and Palesh needs to be sure he keeps all councilors better informed about his decisions going forward. This doesn't mean he needs to call them up every time he buys a box of pens, but when it comes to changes in high-level positions, he should pick up the phone or send off an e-mail.

But that also doesn't mean he needs to get their OK for these types of moves, either. The councilors should provide feedback, and Palesh needs to keep an open mind about what they are suggesting, but ultimately, he's being paid to run this city on a day-to-day basis.

We urge Palesh and the councilors to discuss these recent issues and come up with an improved system to allow the manager the room he needs to operate effectively and give the councilors the oversight they need to make sure he's doing his job well.