Just when it seems like St. Martinville’s city government is calming down, suddenly it isn’t. Again.

At the last meeting of the 2020 calendar year, there were signs of cooperation between Mayor Melinda Mitchell and the city council. A recommendation from Mitchell to hire a consultant to help the city in its dealings with the Federal Emergency Management Agency passed, with Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper saying the move was a “no-brainer.” The usual opposition between the two sides was at an ebb.

That peace was likely the result of either egg nog or a sense of joy during the Christmas season. At the first meeting of 2021, the council downgraded the latest Mitchell-issued suspension of the city’s chief administrative officer to a verbal warning — and had to dismiss another suspension Mitchell tried to issue to the CAO as a result of an apparent confrontation during the council’s executive session.

When the executive session ended, council members said that after discussing the issues surrounding the suspension of CAO Avis Gutekunst they felt that the lesser warning was warranted. Gutekunst admitted that there were several tasks that were dropped that led to some checks not clearing the city’s accounts earlier this month. But she also said that there were several extenuating factors — like having almost a dozen workers out on either quarantine or recovering from COVID-19.

Because an executive session to discuss job performance and personnel issues is confidential, there was no record of the meeting available to the public. But the frayed nerves and public vitriol that had been hallmarks of the city’s open meetings in the previous two years were back Tuesday night.

The elevated tensions do not do anyone good. They do not help the city move forward, and they do not make a reasoned and informed plan of government possible. Whatever it took for the council members and administration officials to find a kinder spirit last month needs to be found and spread liberally before the next meeting, for goodness sake.