Finally, after spending about eight months discussing the possibility of moving the Bainbridge Island Municipal Court to Poulsbo, it is clear that it wasn’t such a good idea for a variety of reasons. Money was a deciding factor, but Poulsbo’s mayor also indicated she was pulling the welcome mat because of our sitting judge’s comments about the security of the new building.

It’s Bainbridge politics as usual, one could say, which should have been expected after some members of the council chose to reduce the salary of Judge Kate Carruthers and even explore the possibility of voiding her contract. She chose to fight back by speaking out and marshaling many community supporters. It got a little rancorous, but unfortunately that often happens here.

What’s disappointing is that the council, in partnership with Carruthers, who is essentially a city employee, failed to explore all of the possibilities of keeping the court here before going off on a tangent in the direction of Poulsbo. That’s what grown-ups do, but instead sides were quickly taken and no sincere give-and-take attempts were made to sort this thing out.

Obviously, there were some hidden agendas occurring, which is unfortunate because the issue is an extremely important one for the community. There are two things to which nearly everyone agrees: the court should stay here if at all possible and it shouldn’t be located in its current site.

The council seems to be unanimous on the need for it to be in Winslow, although it finally indicated Wednesday that it wants the city manager to explore all possibilities before making a decision. A renovated City Hall is certainly a possibility, which, by the way, was brought up in the staff report produced several months ago before that suggestion was brushed aside.

Several lessons could be learned from this exercise, beginning with the council and those who may disagree with its direction reaching out to each other to find common ground. The division that occurred didn’t have to happen.