The least perceptive and most embarrassing majority to ever reign over a modern Fairmont City Council has added a new banner to its hall of infamy. It can now be called the least efficient group of petty tyrants.

On Monday night, council members Tom Hawkins, Randy Lubenow and Ruth Cyphers were the impetus behind placing city administrator Mike Humpal on paid administrative leave, beginning today. The majority has been in charge since January and has wanted to take an action of this kind for quite some time. They couldn’t just do it, though. They would have to be able to shoot straight first.

Instead they have dragged the city through six months of hell, doing all they can to shine a spotlight of negative attention on Fairmont. All in a confused, pointless effort to decapitate city government by ousting the city attorney and city administrator.

They’re doing it all for you, though, or so they claim. Because they are such good people. (They’re not.)

They are doing it to satisfy their own personal pettiness, and that of a few other former city officials who are not exactly the kind of folks who ever believed in consensus or sanity in local government operations. Again, it’s all about ego, power and 20-year-old perceived personal slights.

Through Monday’s action, Hawkins and Lubenow have proven themselves to be ruthless liars. Both made pledges in July to stop pursuing Humpal’s removal. Hawkins did so publicly at a council meeting, saying his business was suffering from all his shenanigans. Perhaps he should have taken that as his cue that the public did not (does not) support him. Somewhere, he subsequently lost the clue.

Instead, the majority trio turned up the heat, seeking an investigation of city staff as well as a state “forensic” audit of the city’s books. All the while suggesting some special knowledge about these matters that they are unable or unwilling to share with the people who elected them and are their bosses. That’s you, the citizens.

And, now what? The majority trio does not listen to the interim city attorney. Expect lawsuits. And who will they get to run the city? Why would any sane or ethical human now choose to be city administrator here? To work with Hawkins? He doesn’t “work” with anybody. He tries to run the city by himself. To work with Lubenow? He votes to fire people without even understanding what it is they do. To work with Cyphers? She cannot articulate a reason for anything she does. Not without someone else pulling the strings.

We wrote in April, when this all began, that this trio would embarrass Fairmont. We nailed it. So did they.