We can’t say we disagree with the City Council’s decision to appoint Savannah Casey to the council to fill the time left on former councilman John Barbera’s term.

Over the past several years Casey has shown herself to be a booster for the city of Warren and Warren County through her work at WCCBI. She’s been involved in downtown events and initiatives and serves on a veritable bevy of non-profit boards that seek to improve the lives of hundreds of Warren County residents. She is the definition of a community servant.

But we also know Casey will have to walk a tightrope during her time on the council. It was telling, in our opinion, that Councilwoman Danielle Flasher was one of two council members to vote for William Bussoletti to fill the seat. Flasher was the first to ask about Casey’s ability to separate her work as WCCBI’s operations director and a position on the City Council. That ability will be tested soon. Warren Worx, which operates under the umbrella of WCCBI, is asking the City Council for $100,000 in funding through the 2026 city budget, though council members suggested starting with $75,000 and then potentially increasing that amount as the budget discussions continue.

It is going to be a difficult task for Casey, in our opinion, to separate her roles. While WCCBI and the city work hand-in-hand on many events and initiatives, all partnerships need boundaries. That’s especially true when there are large amounts of public funding in the mix. We have no doubt that Casey will recuse herself from votes where the council is approving funding for WCCBI or Warren Worx. But one can only wonder what happens behind closed doors of either WCCBI or council discussions that the public doesn’t see.

As much as some people don’t want to admit it, Warren Worx is a publicly funded experiment that attempts to reverse our population and job losses. It’s an experiment we want to see succeed. At the same time, we have to be wary of using our limited public resources on an experiment that may, or may not, pay off. That means having clear-eyed leadership at the city and county levels when the time comes to either continue the experiment or to pull the plug.

We know Savannah Casey is a dedicated volunteer and booster for our region. Now, she can add tightrope artist to her already lengthy public resume.