It's great that the Butler County commissioners are interested in the issues surrounding possible construction of a second tier parking garage for the city. However, Commissioners Scott Lowe and James Kennedy should have balked at proceeding with a meeting with two city leaders regarding the proposed garage Thursday when no one from the Butler Parking Authority showed up.

At least, the two commissioners should have had members of their office staff try to call authority members to ascertain that there was no misunderstanding about the meeting's time and date. The project being talked about is an authority project, and representation from the authority should have been present to hear what was being said and be accorded the opportunity to respond.

Those at the meeting did delay the start of the meeting a short time, purportedly to wait for the arrival of authority representatives. But instead of taking extra steps to get in touch with at least one or two authority members while they waited, no such effort was initiated and the meeting was allowed to proceed without them.

Neither the commissioners nor city council would appreciate if a meeting involving important initiatives of their own were held by other groups, giving them no opportunity to participate in the discussion.

While Thursday's meeting was not geared toward taking official actions, it nevertheless allowed city officials to emphasize to the commissioners that they oppose building the proposed parking garage on the site the authority has targeted. The authority says it can afford to build the $3.1 million garage on the authority's South McKean Street parking lot next to Morgan Center, but not on the East Diamond Street parking lot, which some council members regard as the better choice.

The much-more-expensive site-preparation cost associated with the East Diamond lot is what has prompted the authority to want to steer clear of it.

At Thursday's meeting, Councilman Mitch Ufner, who along with Mayor Leonard Pintell attended the meeting, asked the commissioners to approve giving $1.2 million to $2 million to the project to offset excavation costs so the garage can be built on the Diamond lot. That request was inappropriate without authority representation present to back up or initiate the request.

Additionally, taxpayers should have the opportunity to react to whether the commissioners should approve such a financial dent in the county's coffers without the assurance that the most cost-effective option is being pursued.

The meeting had the appearance of the council trying to do an end run around the authority, and that is not the way business so important should be conducted.

"We were not invited, according to my knowledge," said authority chairman Paul Hobaugh on Friday.

Bob Stock, authority solicitor, said Friday that a meeting had been talked about but that the authority had gotten no official word of it actually being scheduled.

Lowe told the two city officials that the county was willing to help and wholeheartedly support the initiative to add the proposed parking asset. However, Kennedy and Lowe were correct in questioning whether either lot is the ideal location - especially without having the authority's perspective in the same room.

In the future, both the city and county should insist on authority presence anytime more than cursory reference to the garage is on the agenda. That is a matter of basic courtesy.

It's unfortunate that these top-level city and county officials forgot about something so basic on Thursday.