Perryville City Council members deserve some recognition for how they are handling a possible annexation that would allow for a new winery business.

There are a lot of ways the council could have mishandled this matter, but so far, it seems like they’re keeping even hands and level scales.

Council members could have scored political points with anti-alcohol residents by simply refusing to consider the annexation request. They would have been ignoring the potential boon to Perryville’s and Boyle County’s economies if they had.

They also could have scored political points with the economic development crowd by ignoring those with concerns about businesses that sell alcohol and ramming through an annexation.

And caught in the middle of either scenario would be the actual property owners — not just the ones who want to open a winery, but the ones who live and own property adjacent to the winery.

It wouldn’t have been hard to ignore those people caught in the middle — none of them are actually Perryville citizens currently, because they all live outside the city limits.

Instead, Perryville’s elected officials have shown they have the best interests of the whole community at heart. They are examining the possibility of the requested annexation, including the opinions of all potentially affected landowners.

This process doesn’t guarantee an outcome one way or the other; instead, it guarantees that the decision arrived at has legitimacy and community buy-in. That’s a good example of how government should behave.