Tuesday’s Natchez Board of Aldermen meeting sadly provided citizens a three-way riddle with which to ponder:

Which is worse, a city with poor legal guidance, virtually no apparent penalty for violating city codes or city leaders who don’t listen to good advice?

All three scenarios put the city in a bad spot, and all three were on display Tuesday.

Bafflingly, the city seems to continue stubbing its toe over enforcement of its own laws.

The latest involves the dispute over drilling an oil well on perhaps the saddest example of neglect in the city — historic Arlington.

The property’s owner owes the city tens of thousands of dollars in fines for allowing the landmark to slowly fall down — all the while violating city codes.

No one seems to know what the city’s plans are to help save Arlington beyond racking up fines on paper.

But the recent flap over drilling for oil right in the center of a neighborhood reeks of some bad decision-making. Shouldn’t the city’s own attorney have been able to steer clear of this tar pit before the first drill bit hit the ground?

Perhaps his focus has been more on securing payment for his “work” on the city’s bond-swap agreement.

At Tuesday’s meeting, aldermen approved a $5,000 payment to Sanders and another $15,000 to another attorney for the transaction.

They did so against the advice of City Clerk Donnie Holloway and the logical common sense Holloway tried in vain to explain.

As Holloway said, the $20,000 of taxpayer money is for a transaction yet to be completed. In other words, the money isn’t in the bank yet.

Unfortunately, the riddle isn’t funny. The city must begin governing with sound judgment and a common-sense approach.

We hope the new administration can begin to move Natchez in that direction. The need is critical.