It was interesting, even refreshing, to learn that the Carrboro Board of Aldermen demonstrated judicious restraint of their appointive powers in the matter of former colleague John Herrera.

Herrera, recall, resigned from the board because he has married, is moving to Holly Springs where he was able to find a more affordable house for his now enlarged family and wanted to spend more time with those family members. Even before his resignation, Herrera had made it known that he would not seek another term on the board when his ends. Herrera's seat is up for election this year, along with two others and the mayor's post.

Back when he announced that he would not be seeking another term, Herrera voiced his support for Sammy Slade to succeed him. It could have been an easy vote for the Board of Aldermen to honor their compatriot's wishes by sliding Slade into the unfilled term, which the town rumor mill had it they were considering doing. To their credit, the aldermen did not. Because Slade is an active candidate and already garnered the meaningful endorsement of the friend he would replace on the board, he would have been given an unfair advantage over his opponents by having a seat of power and high visibility.

Since there are fewer than a dozen meetings remaining before the end of the year, the board opted not to fill the vacancy. That might create a bit more work for the remaining six members, but surely they recognized that the political ill will they could have created by making a political appointment so close to the election was not worth it. And it could have been a difficult task to find another person willing to step out of the shadows to tackle a busy seat on the board with so little time remaining in the term.

By most accounts, Herrera was an engaged and effective public servant who cared deeply about his constituents, especially his fellow Latinos. His support of immigrants sometimes caused him to advance constitutionally dubious causes such as allowing non-citizen immigrants to vote in town elections, but he was always looking for ways to help his fellow man. We wish him well in his new endeavors.