It doesn’t make sense to allow a problem to fester when there’s the ability to put the problem to rest.

The Altoona Parking Authority followed that thinking on May 26 when it voted unanimously to terminate its contract with the company it hired just over a year ago to manage downtown parking.

It’s not the purpose of this editorial to pass judgment on the company’s performance — that was an authority responsibility — but only to observe that the authority acted correctly if it felt there was evidence enough to support its action.

All responsible city entities, besides performing their duties according to existing rules and regulations, have the responsibility to promote the goodness of the city and, as much as possible, extend appreciation to residents and visitors for wanting to live here or visit here for whatever positive reason.

The city does not gain when something is eroding the strengths that the city is working hard to cultivate or expand, and the authority determined that the parking-management company in question — Metropolis, formerly SP Plus — had become more of a liability than an asset and that a change was necessary.

Apparently, the authority had reason to believe that the problems with the company that already had been encountered weren’t going to be resolved easily, and a determination like that became the proverbial writing on the wall that replacing the company would be necessary.

Authority member and city manager Christopher McGuire described the situation as “a pattern of ongoing issues” — issues tied to the recent start-up of street enforcement.

As reported in the Mirror’s May 27 edition, McGuire pointed to confusion regarding signs and the existence of questionable ticketing attitudes and practices.

Perhaps there were misunderstandings along the way or breakdowns in communication, but, if there were, those should have been able to be resolved quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction. Altoona is not a city of such large size that an extended period of time is needed to properly address problems large or small.

It would seem that mere word of mouth should have been sufficient, but obviously it wasn’t.

And, when a contractor or any other kind of service is brought aboard and there are problems, a situation like that, if not addressed correctly, undermines those municipal leaders and managers who are charged with the responsibility that services operate according to needs and expectations.

In the case of the parking agency, expectations aren’t met when some decisions seem to lack good sense and display poor judgment.

One that was particularly puzzling was when Metropolis required Farmers Market vendors to park in the Transportation Center garage, a block from their stalls in Heritage Plaza; another was the ticketing of a janitor three times for parking near where he was working at the Transportation Center.

But again, it was the authority’s responsibility to address those and other issues tied to the now-former parking manager, and the authority responded in the manner that it deemed to be in the downtown’s best interests.

Hopefully, the authority’s termination action will deliver a message to future potential service providers that it regard its responsibility seriously.

The Mirror’s May 27 article quoted McGuire’s observation that the issues with enforcement threatened “to damage the brand” that the city has been laboring to create.

All considered, acting quickly in the manner in which it did really was the authority’s only correct recourse.