I don’t think I’m alone in believing this, but Amarillo has reached a critical juncture in its development without a full-time, permanent city manager on hand to guide the city’s journey into the future.

The interim city manager, Terry Childers, quit his job this past week after muttering a profane epithet at a constituent. He cleared out his desk, his office and then he hit the road. The city has elevated assistant manager Bob Cowell into the interim post.

Now the city has to restart its search for a permanent manager.

Time seems to be a critical matter.

Demolition crews are knocking down a vacant building to make room for the planned construction of a downtown ballpark and event venue. Construction crews are working nearby to finish work on a convention hotel and a parking garage. It’s all good stuff and it speaks to the city’s desire to achieve a bright future.

The $45 million ballpark is the lynchpin, of course. The city is in the midst of negotiating with a San Antonio minor-league baseball team that reportedly wants to bring that team to Amarillo.

Given the city’s governing charter, the city manager is invested with a tremendous amount of authority and power. This individual makes all the major hires: police chief, fire chief, assistant city manager. The manager also should be involved in determining who fills other key positions.

Taxpayers fork over a good deal of money to pay the city manager and the individual earns every nickel of the six-figure salary if he or she does a good job.

The city has gone more than a year without a permanent manager. It started a search, then stopped searching. Childers was going to stay on until the May 2017 elections concluded. Then it all went to hell with that expletive muttered into a hot microphone.

All this has occurred against a backdrop of serious change afoot in the city. Amarillo is seeking to remake its downtown district. It involves some public funds as well as substantial private investment. The public part of it requires the city have a strong hand at the City Hall helm.

There needs to be some stability returned to City Hall.

My hope now is for the City Council to expedite its search for a permanent city manager. Time is critical, lady and gentlemen of the council. A lot of things are happening all at once and the city’s administrative staff needs a firm hand.

Let’s get busy.