Every pair of sisters that shares a bedroom growing up reaches the masking tape point.

The older sister gets tired of little sis always touching her stuff.

Little sis gets mad that big sis is always yelling at her.

And, sooner or later, one sister marches off to find the solution. She’ll return with a roll of tape and emphatically tape a line down the middle of the room.

One side is hers; the other belongs to her sister. The line shall not be crossed.

Sometimes it seems sibling rivalry extends out of the bedroom and into the offices of our city and county government.

The line is drawn, the rules are made and no one wants to talk to the other.

And when one side mentions moving the line back a bit, the other side is sure to get red-faced.

Just mention the word annexation and county supervisors start twitching.

The county board has already decided they’ll hire an attorney to fight it if necessary.

The city has proposed a very small annexation — only 1,680 acres — that city leaders estimate only affects a dozen or fewer people.

Before we start crying for Mom and Dad to survey the boundaries, maybe it would be easiest just to have a public hearing. Invite the residents directly affected, and hear what they have to say. The meeting should not be a debate on annexation in general, but just with the specific areas under consideration.

Perhaps living in the city has its benefits to these folks.

After all, the masking tape line usually comes up once both parties realize that the door is only on one side and the bathroom on the other.