Acynical way to view last week's appointment of John Rossi as full-time city attorney is that it took more than 18 months for Auburn's leaders to finally get the situation right. The city had been operating with a part-time legal team since late 2006, when the city council stripped the interim city manager of his power to hire a replacement for Thomas Leone.

But to view the situation in that context wouldn't be fair to the current council and city manager. They did what the city council that was in power in late 2006 could not - keep politics out of it.

City manager Mark Palesh's hiring of Rossi was his choice to make. But it was also the council majority's choice to fund the corporation counsel office for a full-time city attorney to lead it.

Each side, publicly at least, respected the right of the other to make their decisions. And we believe each side made the right decision.

We've long felt that a city the size of Auburn needs a full-time city attorney. There was never a major performance issue with the part-time, team approach that had been used the past year and a half, but there were definitely times when the corporation counsel office's office was not immediately available, both to city staff and the public.

Rossi was a member of that part-time legal team, and he demonstrated his skill to do the job. Now he'll be doing it on a full-time basis, and the city will be better off for it.

Rossi has proven experience in matters of municipal law. He's not being hired as a favor for loyalty to a political party, and he won't need to learn on the job at taxpayers' expense. Most importantly, he's the person the city manager - who works most closely with the city attorney - felt most comfortable choosing.

Auburn has arrived at this point thanks to leaders who allowed the system that's in place to work.