We keep having to beat this drum, and perhaps we need to beat it louder.

Too often, the Albert Lea City Council feels the need to rush matters. Rush. Rush. Rush. Rush. Get it on the agenda. Get it approved. Move on before the community gets too much of a voice.

Time and again, it’s when it rushes decisions that the council ends up wishing it had not. Time and again, this Editorial Board has asked the City Council to slow down.

Rushing is how the City Council ended up with Jim Norman of Afton as city manager last March in the wake of the city’s failure to strike a deal with Alan Lanning of Pines North, Colo.

Before an offer was made to any candidate, this Editorial Board on March 12 wrote: “The City Council has a major decision on its hands that will impact this community for years to come and should not feel rushed once all the candidates have been interviewed.”

The editorial went on to say, “There is always the option of not selecting any of the finalists and starting a new search.”

Of course, the council did not heed the advice and rushed matters instead. On Friday, March 19, the public had a chance to meet the five finalists. On Saturday, March 20, the council offered the job to Lanning. One day doesn’t seem like much time to hear what the people who met the finalists had to say.

In the next few days, everyone waited to see his response.

On Wednesday, March 25, the city leaders announced they had struck a verbal agreement with a different finalist — Jim Norman. Whoa! That was a swift change in direction.

A better pace would be to announce Lanning had declined the offer and now city officials are considering other candidates.

Moreover, the citizens panel that advised the council comprised city cheerleaders. No one on the panel was from industry. No one represented county government. No one was from the legal community. And everyone on the panel was white. This Editorial Board on March 11 asked for a change in the panel. That advice, too, went unheeded.

Perhaps now that the City Council has egg on its face as a result of a rushed decision, it will begin to slow down in making decisions and seek greater feedback from a wider segment of the Albert Lea community.

There are a lot of people who live and work outside of City Hall who would participate in city matters. It’s just that things get decided so swiftly that they run out of time to join the discussion.

More dialogue. More sunshine. More time. These things result in better decisions.