Just a few weeks short of its 118th birthday, the town of Garland’s future as an incorporated town seemed to be teetering close to demise last week. But in a remarkable change of course, town leadership that looked to be pulling apart at the seams was mended as its resigning mayor changed his mind and two new commissioners were appointed to fill seats vacated less than 48 hours before, leaving only one void on the town board and allowing government business to continue.

Mayor Austin Brown is to be commended for his decision not to leave the town in a governmental lurch, and town board members Jo Strickland and Ralph Smith Jr. are to be applauded as well for not abandoning what appeared to be a sinking ship just a week ago. No one would have blamed any of them for throwing up their hands and allowing the League of Municipalities or the Local Government Commission to come in and sort out the issues, many of which will not simply disappear because of last week’s life support efforts.

But they did not, showing, we believe, more concern for the town than for their own personal agendas, a refreshing approach that offers us all a glimpse at what can occur in this small southern Sampson town, when the best interest of all is considered above that of a select few.

What happened is still unclear, but the end result was Brown’s resignation on Jan. 3, followed by the resignations of commissioners Lee Carberry, Timothy Blackburn and Anthony Norris, as well as the town clerk, on Jan. 6, leaving only two governing members — not enough to conduct town business nor move forward with any financial transactions. The moves put the town perilously close, in our estimation, to losing its charter, one that established the town on Feb. 8, 1907.

But Brown, under advisement from local government officials in Raleigh, reconsidered his action, understanding, he told a standing-room-only group of citizens at an emergency meeting in Garland last Wednesday night, that he simply couldn’t abandon the town and leave it to possibly lose its existence as an incorporated town.

Standing with him Wednesday night was Smith and Strickland, and, after nomination, two new members — Ed Gillim and Carolyn Melvin. What’s more, at least one citizens at the Wednesday meeting expressed interest in filling the final vacant seat on the board, one commissioners had already decided would be left up to citizen input.

While all the actions are commendable, none are a permanent fix to the problems that exist with Garland’s leadership. That won’t happen until every single town commissioner commits to a different approach to governing — one that includes conducting all permissible town business in the open, refusing to provide social media commentary on town business after it has been voted on by the board (and even before) and respecting one another both in the board room and outside of it. And that just scratches the surface of the civility that needs to happen.

We have high hopes that Brown and the four commissioners who now constitute the board will set that kind of example moving forward and ensure whoever they place on the board with them will conduct themselves in like manner.

It’s up to Garland citizens to ensure their leaders act in a manner befitting the titles they carry. And it’s up to commissioners to show responsible behavior as they lead the town and, really, as representatives in the county — behavior that calls on them to show the best part of themselves not only when they sit at that table but wherever they go. It is our prayer that they can do it now and in the future.