Sometimes, going forward isn’t as easy as it seems.

Take for instance last week’s service delivery area meeting between the county, Guyton, Rincon and Springfield. To say some of the exchanges between folks in the room were testy would be an understatement.

I have to commend interim county administrator David Crawley. There weren’t enough representatives from any of the governments to form a quorum so technically, the meeting wasn’t an open one.

When it appeared that the meeting may get off to a bitter and acrimonious start, Crawley did close the meeting. A few minutes later, the door opened and we were allowed back in. I can only guess at what he said and I tend to think he reminded those there that the press was around and it would be best if everyone at least tried to be mindful of that.

The mood in the room was less than cordial. It was a fairly grumpy looking group gathered around the table for the next hour and a half.

It was also apparent that there are some lingering hostilities, maybe between governments, maybe between personalities. If that’s so, it’s time, it’s past time, to get past those.

If Guyton and Springfield agree to their service delivery areas as drawn, the county may not need to negotiate any further with Rincon. In order for the service delivery map to go forward, all that’s needed is the county, the county seat and one of the remaining two cities to sign off on it.

Still, in the interest of cooperation, at least trying to reach an agreement, even if one is not in the offing, is worth at least one more shot. As this county grows — and it’s only going to keep growing, folks — the less bickering among the governments there is, the easier it may be to get things done.

It doesn’t matter if they don’t get along personally. It shouldn’t matter, either. It also shouldn’t get in the way.

I don’t know that there will be a solution that will appeal to all for water and sewer service lines. In fact, there probably isn’t one. That shouldn’t stop them from trying to work something out.

And if they can’t get this ironed out, that doesn’t mean they should give up cooperating in other areas. There’s too much going on and too much about to happen to dig in.