Outgoing members of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners who want to make the most of their last two months in office won’t waste time suing the city of Salisbury over a zoning issue. The clock has run out on the current board’s ability to control West End Plaza’s future.

Three new commissioners will be elected on Nov. 4 and sworn in Dec. 1. That group —the new commissioners and those whose terms aren’t up yet, Craig Pierce and Mike Caskey — are the ones who should decide whether to sue, seek a different zoning solution for the mall or go in some other direction.

Commissioners’ frustration is somewhat understandable. The city sent them mixed signals. Once it was discovered that the mall was not zoned for the government services commissioners want to put there, city staff directed county officials to request a special use permit. The county did, and the city’s Planning Board OK’d the request. City Council denied the request, however, and has suggested the county seek a conditional district overlay instead.

But the county has been inconsistent, too. Last Tuesday, county officials told City Council they were scaling back the request for the special use permit, seeking permission to put government services in only 40,000 square feet of the 326,000-square-foot mall. But just the day before that, the commission chairman told a Post reporter that commissioners intended from the start to eventually use the entire mall for government offices. That suggests people jittery about the county pulling out of downtown are not being paranoid.

Then there’s the issue of due diligence. Did commissioners really buy the mall without looking into its zoning?

This could go on and on. It’s sad that our local boards spend so much time fighting each other — the school board threatening to sue the county commission over funding last year, and now the county preparing to file suit against the city over putting government offices in the mall. Imagine what could be accomplished if everyone were on the same page and their energies went into something positive for the community. You can’t please all the people all the time — but do we always have to fight?

Voters may provide a solution on Nov. 4. They’ll choose from a strong slate of county commission candidates, all but one of whom have signed a letter asking current commissioners to hold off on a lawsuit. That’s Republicans, Democrats and independents —an unprecedented level of agreement that bodes well for the future of county politics.