It may be that the squabbling Ketchum City Council has been so obsessed with whether Council President Randy Hall also should serve as a city firefighter it's been distracted from more demanding issues that a city hall with vision and energy would deal with promptly.
(Does Captain Queeg and his obsessive search for the missing strawberries in "The Caine Mutiny" ring a bell?)
For starters, Ketchum City Hall has been jolted by the city of Sun Valley's possible attempt to extend its boundaries and annex the Sun Valley Co.'s River Run property at the base of Bald Mountain.
The reaction out of Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon and the council was to sputter and object and act as though Sun Valley is engaged in a sneak attack on its larger municipal neighbor.
But this is no secret ambition of Sun Valley. The idea has been openly floating around Sun Valley City Hall. Even Sun Valley Co. General Manager Wally Huffman has indicated that annexation of the area by either Sun Valley or Ketchum would be acceptable.
So, now that the Sun Valley threat is real, what does Ketchum Mayor Simon and the council plan?
If the city's inability to even complete a system of sidewalks in the downtown area is indicative of its capacity, then very large questions loom over city hall about whether it's equipped to plan and provide services for the River Run enclave where a development boom is about to begin.
Big tasks require big thinkers.
