Remember this scene? It was the finalists for Albert Lea city manager meeting with the public on March 19. The next day, the City Council announced its selection for manager. We bring this up as a reminder, going into this new round of hiring for a city manager, that the public deserves more time than a day after meeting the finalists to share thoughts and impressions with their councilors. Let the community residents who show up have time to sleep on it, pen an e-mail and make a phone call. Give the community residents some sort of deadline for giving input from the meeting. Make them feel like they are part of the hiring process, though, of course, the ultimate decision rightly belongs to the City Council. Our point is that buy-in is a powerful and positive motivator for public engagement.