Last week, Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis taught incoming Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell a valuable lesson.

Grennell assumed that his recommendation to fill the city attorney’s position would simply be taken as he intended — the best person with the most pertinent experience.

Instead Mathis led a majority of the board to select a completely different person entirely. When asked about her reasoning, Mathis suggested it was because Grennell had not sought her opinion prior to the meeting.

That smacks of pettiness.

Even if Grennell didn’t go out of his way to communicate to Mathis his wishes in advance, Mathis needs to realize, she’s not the queen of Natchez. She’s simply a single alderman. She happens to be an alderman who doesn’t mind raising her voice to get her points across, which often means other voices fall silent.

Grennell’s reaction seemed on point. It was a gut punch on his first day in office. But it’s also not the end of the day. Aldermen can — and should — reconsider their choice.

The fact is on their first day of office and in a decision that winds up often being among their biggest decisions in office, aldermen should take their time and vet all candidates before making a decision. Perhaps new Ward 5 Alderman Benjamin Davis was most on point Friday when he abstained from voting, saying he simply he was not prepared enough to make a decision.

By abstaining, however, he pushed Mathis’ punitive choice to approval.

Hopefully, Davis will seek to right this inadvertent wrong by challenging the selection at the next meeting. We know of no reason the city cannot reconsider its choice. Our hope is that the city will do so and will choose someone who is better qualified and a city resident.