Grab your pot holders, the Sedgwick County Commission is boiling over

Would Sedgwick County Commission chairman Dave Unruh look best in a baseball umpire’s outfit or in NFL referee garb?

Maybe a crisp blue dress shirt and black bow tie worn by professional boxing referees.

Whatever the clothing, Unruh probably felt like he needed it as the man in the middle of a remarkable rant Wednesday by commissioner Richard Ranzau about fellow commissioner Michael O’Donnell.

Upset that O’Donnell changed his vote and tipped the majority toward reinstating a community health surveyor job in the county budget, Ranzau intensely questioned O’Donnell’s sincerity.

Ranzau said O’Donnell makes decisions based on political motivation and used 23 words to call him a liar, without using the word itself.

O’Donnell didn’t respond with political jabs of his own, though he later told The Eagle’s Dion Lefler that Ranzau is mentally unstable.

Unruh did his diplomatic best at cutting off the swipes and returning the meeting to more normal decorum. Ranzau had little of it, continuing to go at O’Donnell.

“I was not very good at it today,” Unruh said of controlling the outbreaks.

Unruh shouldn’t have to play arbiter. Ranzau and O’Donnell should be able to work out differences before they get to the commission chambers, though it’s not the first time Ranzau has gone beyond the norm in criticizing O’Donnell during a meeting. O’Donnell’s behavior outside commission chambers has kept him in headlines, too.

A little soul-searching, guys, is needed.

If not, here’s hoping Unruh can channel legendary boxing ref Mills Lane by next week’s meeting. Then all commissioners would need is a tuxedoed Michael Buffer screaming, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Grab your pot holders, the Sedgwick County Commission is boiling over."