Let’s play a little game of “What if …?”

Are you ready? Here goes.

What if Amarillo City Manager Jarrett Atkinson decides — against the expressed wishes of one of the city councilmen to whom he reports — that he doesn’t want to resign?

What if, then, the City Council decides to terminate the city manager?

What if the city then launches a national search to find a new chief executive for the city administration? Lord knows they aren’t going to look inward for that one, given that they want “change” at City Hall. Nor should they. The job is a big one and it requires someone with considerable skill and — as seen in recent weeks — someone with a rhino hide.

What if the council dangles a job posting out there, offers to pay the next city manager a lot of money and it gets responses from dozens of qualified candidates?

What if, then, the city manager applicants one by one start looking at the city’s recent history? They note that the council fired the city manager who was up to his eyeballs in planning a downtown revitalization project. They also take note that one of the councilmen who wanted Atkinson to quit had barely taken his oath of office before spouting off.

Then they wonder, do I really want to go work in that environment, for that body of council members who were so quick to dismiss an experienced public servant?

What if the process drags on for months as the city keeps combing the country for the right person who’s willing to come to Amarillo, Texas — which, while it’s a nice city with nice people, isn’t exactly paradise?

Finally, what if the city manager selection process drags on so long that all the hard work that’s gone into redeveloping downtown Amarillo gets flushed down the toilet?

Therein lies the potential predicament that awaits these City Hall change agents.

Good luck, gentlemen.