It’s the same old song … yet city and county leaders here have yet to master the beat. Economic development. Road improvements. School governance. Recreation.

On all these key issues the city aldermen and county supervisors keep repeating the same refrains … renewed spirits of cooperations; renewed senses of consensus; yet, with the apparent exception of the repairs to Government Fleet Road, no tangible agreements on the critically important &uot;big&uot; issues.

That leaves the rest of us – taxpayers and residents of Adams County both inside and outside the city limits – clamoring for ear plugs as we hear the same old rhetoric:

The county shouldn’t have to fund anything -&160;programs, street repairs, projects – that benefit residents inside the city limits. The city, on the other hand, says its residents unfairly bears the burden for the majority of streets, programs (including recreation) and economic development efforts that take place throughout the county. Add to that the additional taxes that city residents pay and, well … Toss in politics and egos, and the discord begins. Residents throughout the county deserve better.

We deserve an effective, proactive economic development agency -&160;not one left without a director for more than year because two boards have yet to formally agree on either funding of the agency or structure of the governing board.

We deserve a school board whose members are focused on improving our school district – not a board whose members are caught in an ongoing, political battle over the method of composing that board.

Simply put, we deserve good government. And it’s up to our elected officials to provide just that. A recent meeting between the two boards generated renewed talk of cooperation and tentative commitments to work together. The challenge is to turn that talk into action.

True harmony may be a pipe dream. But a little more consensus and cooperation, and a little less political posturing, would be music to our ears.