David Miller and Chula Ross Sanchez are good people, but this column isn’t just about them. It could be about anybody — it could be about you and me.

We want the best-qualified residents to serve, but it becomes harder to recruit the best candidates for Galveston’s boards and commissions after witnessing an able commissioner being fired without cause.

That’s no comment on the qualifications of the replacement candidates. The point is that the council should encourage public service by conducting a fair performance review before even considering new talent.

Let’s say a commissioner or a trustee seeks reappointment; the council should reappoint him or her as long as he or she regularly attends meetings, grasps the issues and acts professionally.

That’s the least we can do to thank our volunteers, so why not adopt by resolution a review protocol that sets forth the following deal: If you serve responsibly, you earn reappointment, and, if you want it, you get reappointed.

Our charter — as it does for council members — mandates appointees’ term limits too, so the system already is designed to regularly seat fresh talent on an objective schedule.

If the system is designed to reward another, well-earned term, then volunteers can be confident of where they stand.

More importantly, the people’s business will be well served. Taking the politics out of it as best we can is a good thing.

The recent episode concerning the Planning Commission appointment was particularly harsh, especially since it will undoubtedly increase the rancor surrounding review of the Galveston Housing Authority’s plans.

The council’s exercise of power has consequences now and later, so when considering reappointment to a multiyear term, the council shouldn’t presume the candidate’s position on a sole issue that’s hot now and use that as a litmus test.

We see this practiced in Washington regularly — where single issue fights obscure the greater good, but here at home we deserve better. Here we need less rancor and politics, and more thoughtfulness and results.

Galveston has God-given beauty, and we suffer man-made problems, so it’s the council’s job to create a more perfect community every chance we get. The council missed that opportunity last week when it failed to support Sanchez after she volunteered three years of service. That’s less a comment on one person; it’s more a comment on a 4-to-3 vote that showed politics can bite even an innocent volunteer.

We don’t want perfectly qualified candidates to avoid service because they are, reasonably enough, afraid of potentially being embarrassed.

The current council has seven regular meetings left. It could fix this problem before its term is over. If it can’t or won’t take it up, I’m counting on the next council to address it.

Galveston is desperately in need of common ground, and I sincerely hope we can stand together on this. It’s time to clear up our appointment procedure to encourage good people like David and Chula — and many more like them — to serve in the future with confidence that the rules of appointment are fair.

Joe Jaworski, a former member of the Galveston City Council, is a candidate for mayor.