Perhaps among the most infuriating life moments come when someone asks for advice and then utterly ignores it.

Three committee members tapped to help select the new Ferriday police chief must have been boiling with frustration Tuesday night.

Ferriday Mayor Gene Allen opted to ignore the advice of the committee he appointed and simply chose his own man for the job.

Current Ferriday law gives Allen potentate-like rights, as if he was appointed king rather than merely being elected.

The mayor can choose who serves as police chief, city clerk and town attorney.

Having the mayor choose all of those positions puts too much power in one person’s hands. While the aldermen are supposed to approve those appointments, in Tuesday’s case, four of the five aldermen voted against Allen’s choice for police chief. As a result, the interim police chief — who also happened to be the man Allen wanted — will simply remain interim police chief, presumably indefinitely.

Two years ago, Ferriday aldermen defeated a move to make the town’s police chief be elected rather than appointed. The vote then was 3-2 against the change. Perhaps aldermen should take up the matter again soon and reconsider how best to achieve a true balance of power.