Just this week, we saw three examples of right and wrong during the Albert Lea City Council meeting.

Right: Fourth Ward City Councilor Reid Olson abstaining when a vote that comes up regarding Wedgewood Cove subdivision, because he is employed by one of the principal owners of Wedgewood Cove subdivision.

Wrong: Third Ward Councilor George Marin introducing an ordinance rezoning 1321 S. Fourth Ave from I-2 Industrial to R-1 single family. Councilman George Marin lives at 1311 S. Fourth Ave.

As a city councilor, the proper thing to do would be to abstain in a vote that ultimately will have an effect on his own property.

Wrong: Mayor Randy Erdman, Sixth Ward Councilor Al Brooks, Fifth Ward Councilor John Severtson and Marin going against the Albert Lea Planning Commission’s recommendation to wait to rezone 1321 S. Fourth Ave. until the city’s comprehensive plan is complete.

It is the planning commission’s job to gather and study information and ask questions about matters before it before making a recommendation to the council. Members spend a lot of time on each matter brought before them. If a question arises the commission should be asked to be more involved.

It is not wrong to vote against the planning commission’s recommendations &8212; that is one of the council’s options. What is wrong is for councilors not to have all the information available to make a proper decision.

When council members are not fully informed, they make decisions based on their own opinions.

For the public to trust a city council, the council has to earn that trust. When quick deals and uninformed decisions are made, this builds up mistrust in the proper procedures of government, which leads to a general mistrust of the council as a whole.

Let us try to learn from this situation.