Decorum at Albert Lea City Council meetings is important.

Many of the people who were unruly in the council chambers on Monday night wouldn&8217;t think twice about speaking from the audience in Freeborn County District Court, where decorum also is key.

Yet on Monday these people cheered and jeered from the audience. Some protested Mayor Randy Erdman for giving Albert Lea Housing and Redevelopment Director Jon Ford additional time. Some booed Councilor John Severtson for expressing his view. Others just spoke from the audience, prompting the mayor to ask them to approach the podium. Others approached the podium when it wasn&8217;t the public&8217;s turn to speak.

(To be sure, it wasn&8217;t everyone. Many acted appropriately.)

Here&8217;s the deal: Decorum is about civility and respect. Erdman is doing an outstanding job in his term of running smooth, courteous, professional council meetings. If we want to be a bigger city, we need to act like one. Erdman gets that. This isn&8217;t Myrtle.

Some of the people on Monday who acted like it was a Mickey Mouse Club meeting were the regular offenders, such as Manuel Cantu Jr., but some of the others were upstanding landlords who knew better.

If Mayor Erdman wishes to give Ford additional time, that&8217;s his choice. That&8217;s what mayors get to do. Anyone who doesn&8217;t like it can run for mayor. Mayors deserve the same respect at their meetings as judges deserve in court. No one questions a judge who gives a witness additional time.

Kudos to Erdman for throwing Cantu out of the meeting. We hope he exercises that power with any future outbursts.

As for the jeers of Severtson, that was clearly over the line. The councilor didn&8217;t jeer the landlords when they spoke during the public hearing. When the hearing was over, the landlords should have respected the councilors. It&8217;s as though the landlords thought they could catch more flies with vinegar than honey. Severtson has no reason to be courteous with landlords after Monday, and if he is, count him as gracious. Someone then should offer thanks and apologies.

A heated meeting doesn&8217;t need to be disorderly.