The tension between some town councilors and the town manager came to a head earlier this week in Old Orchard Beach.

Council Chairwoman Sharri MacDonald called for an executive session at Wednesday night’s meeting due to her ”“ and other councilors’ ”“ concerns with Town Manager Mark Pearson’s performance. However, MacDonald could not garner enough votes to make the executive session happen.

And the end result was not resolution, nor a plan to fix the issues the disgruntled councilors have.

Some members of the public reportedly spoke up in defense of Pearson, as did Pearson’s attorney, who was present at the meeting. He said if the council wanted to discuss his client’s performance, he believed it would need to done in public.

We disagree.

Town and city managers often have performance reviews periodically, and those sessions are done in private, as they are considered personnel matters. While we can understand Pearson’s objections this week, the council does have the right to enter executive session to discuss his job performance ”“ granted they can secure enough votes to do so.

The problem here is that no one said that Pearson did anything wrong ”“ on the contrary, in fact. Auditor Ron Smith said there had been no wrongdoing by the town manager, and the town manager’s attorney said Pearson was willing to discuss any issues and answer all questions in public.

Since none of that took place and there was no executive session, the major issue that remains is the tension between those councilors who wanted a chance to dismiss the town manager and the town manager himself.

If Pearson is concerned about losing his job, or retaliation from those who are not his fans, his performance may decline. He also may not want to continue working in an uncomfortable environment.

Likewise, councilors who are not satisfied with Pearson will probably continue to be dissatisfied with him, and may take the next opportunity to try and oust him at one of those performance review sessions.

In the meantime, the council and Pearson are certainly in a sticky situation.

The animosity between those who do not support Pearson and Pearson himself may overshadow and even impede the work that needs to be done. Budget season is coming up as well as all the regular, day-to-day town business. We hope that that work will continue unhindered, and that those councilors with issues can voice their concerns to Pearson directly and discuss ways to solve those issues. All parties, however, need to be open to constructive criticism and compromise.

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Today’s editorial was written by City Editor Robyn Burnham on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.