Amarillo’s city charter gives the City Council the power to make precisely one hiring decision: the council hires the city manager.

The five individuals who comprise the council, therefore, have to get this one right. There shouldn’t be any do-overs. They cannot foist it onto someone else. The strong-manager form of government for Amarillo gives the manager the authority to hire all other department heads.

The first hiring decision that the council makes, though, involves the individual who will grab the levers of government and implement council policy. The council is blessed — surprisingly so — with a strong stable of finalists from which to choose.

Thus, the council has only one thing it ought to consider as it ponders the choices for the city manager job: Which one of the five men selected as finalists is the best individual for the post.

The council, though, is getting a bit side-tracked. Imagine that. It’s arguing over how to structure the salary it will pay the manager.

Forget that stuff, council members!

The city paid its previous city manager and the guy who served as interim a handsome salary of more than $200,000 annually. Whoever gets the job next presumably will be the most qualified of the individuals who are competing for the job as chief municipal administrator.

Settle on that matter exclusively, council members. Don’t get caught up in some nickel-and-dime dickering over whether to negotiate a salary package based on an individual’s qualifications.

This is a huge deal, council members.

Get … it … right!