In order to get the I-R to our printer on time, we prepared two front pages for the Nov. 21 edition. This was necessary because the Ellsworth City Council scheduled a special meeting several hours after we normally would have gone to press and we believed the meeting was important enough to hold the paper.

There was only one difference in our two front pages. The first version had a story about the Ellsworth Correctional Facility’s new warden on the right side of the page. That space in the second version was blank, awaiting the outcome of the special council meeting.

As those of you who read last week’s paper already know, the warden ended up on an inside page. The termination of Scott Moore as Ellsworth city administrator by an unanimous vote of the city council was on Page A1.

A week has passed and the outcome of the special council meeting continues to be difficult for everyone. Scott Moore means a lot to Ellsworth and vice versa. He arrived here as a young man, not long from college, and wasted no time becoming an important part of the community. Scott has been especially successful at securing grant dollars and building relationships, both here and across the state.

That said, as an outsider who has attended meetings of the Ellsworth City Council for the better part of 20 years, we support the council’s decision. Moore answers to the council and — because of a series of decisions apparently made outside the authorization of the council — the bond of trust was broken. It’s impossible to operate a city smoothly when that happens.

This is not an outcome anyone wanted. But it is done. It’s now up to those of us who value Ellsworth and the quality of life we have here to deal with it in a way that best serves the city and its residents.

Looking ahead, we would offer these words of caution — We’ve covered rural Kansas for many years and these kinds of situations have the potential to divide a community. Don’t let that happen in Ellsworth.

The council met Monday in regular session and time was set aside at the end the agenda for public comment. Because of Thanksgiving and early deadlines, we planned to post a summary of the meeting on line at www.indyrepnews.com Monday night with a detailed story in the Dec. 5 issue.

Our hope is that we will be able to write that residents who disagreed with the council’s decision voiced their opinions in a respectful manner and then promised to get on with the business of continuing to make Ellsworth County a great place to live and work.

To do otherwise would ignore the hard work and dedication Moore and a long list of other local leaders have given to this community over many years.