As a Dec. 31 Butler Eagle editorial observed, the Saxonburg Borough Council failed to exercise courtesy when it removed Frank Ballina from the Saxonburg Area Authority board for lack of meeting attendance.

Ballina said the council never had discussed the attendance issue with him prior to the removal vote, which occurred Dec. 19.

The council fills seats on the authority board.

But if what now is being contended by Ballina and authority member Bill Coe is true, the authority also must share the blame for the situation surrounding Ballina's forced departure.

Both Ballina and Coe contend they were unaware that an authority member would be subject to removal for missing three consecutive meetings.

Ballina has said that, even if he had known about the stipulation, his absences should have been excused because he was working at those times. He has said his absences were due to needs associated with his start-up company, Belleville International, in Butler.

Even if it wasn't the council's responsibility to tell authority board members that they can't miss three consecutive meetings, the authority should have made that clear to Ballina and Coe from the start of their authority service — or, in Ballina's case, a reminder should have been issued after he had missed two consecutive meetings.

Perhaps the meeting-attendance rule is contained somewhere in the authority's bylaws, and Ballina should have familiarized himself with all important authority information upon assuming his seat.

However, some courtesy prior to the council's action against Ballina might have averted the current situation; Ballina has threatened to sue the council for evicting him from the board.

Other communities and authorities with meeting-attendance rules should take note of what is happening in this instance and, if an issue surrounding possible removal arises, that notice of the pending action is given before it actually takes place.

The new Butler County Salary Board was correct in rescinding personnel reorganizations approved by the previous board on Dec. 19. It is logical for those proposed changes to be re-evaluated as part of the county commissioners' reopening of the 2008 budget.The reorganizations involved a total of eight positions in four offices. Rescinding the reorganizations at this time doesn't rule out approval of the reorganizations — some or all of them — in the future.With two new county commissioners having been sworn in earlier this month, now is the right time for the board of commissioners to take a close look at all facets of the county government. This decision by the salary board, which includes the three commissioners, is logical in the context of that new scrutiny of operations.Now, before any aspect of the proposed personnel changes can be approved, each department must resubmit its reorganization to the salary board.The salary board's decision to rescind — at least temporarily — the authority that the previous board had granted to the controller's office for increasing the base salary of its employees upon attaining professional certification was likewise correct. The board must look closely at how that might impact taxpayers over the short and long run.New Commissioner Dale Pinkerton was right in his conclusion that "we did the right thing for the taxpayers."County taxpayers are hoping for many other decisions that keep their best interests at the forefront.

During uncertain economic times such as these — or anytime, for that matter— positive news on the job front is welcome. So reports in the past week that some jobs in the Butler area are being retained and more are expected to be created due to the efforts of state and local economic development groups is particularly welcome.The state Department of Community and Economic Development has awarded grant money to Applied Test Systems, which will move to East Butler after selling its existing building to make way for the expansion of the Butler Commons shopping center on New Castle Road. A total of $142,500 in grants includes $75,000 in job-creation funds that require ATS to create 25 new jobs over the next three years, while retaining the 60 jobs that already exist at the company.The Butler County Community Development Corporation worked with DCED to secure the funding and to help ATS, which makes equipment for materials testing, facilitate its move to two buildings in East Butler.In addition to the ATS move, the state and the CDC assisted in helping a new company, North American Wire, purchase the assets of International Staple & Machine Co., and to move into part of ISM's EastButler facility.A larger Butler County job-creation effort in which the state and CDC were involved was spotlighted Thursday with the grand opening of the $40 million MEDRAD facility at the Victory Road BusinessPark in Clinton Township. That business park is a 350-acre former brownfield site developed by the CDC.Gov. Ed Rendell, who supported the $4.2 million state grant in exchange for MEDRAD's creation of 500 additional jobs, attended the event along with state Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, and other officials from Butler County and the CDC.Today's economic realities require that state and local economic development agencies work in concert with private business to attract and retain jobs. The recent efforts by people at DCED and the local CDC deserve a cheer — as do the efforts of all the people working at and managing these three businesses.County residents are no doubt hoping more good news will be heard announcing new jobs across the county, particularly at the former Trinity Industries site in the city of Butler.