The review being conducted by the Augusta City Charter Commission is not the place to settle old scores. Nor is it the place to make political points or promote individual agendas.

Instead, a review of the Augusta charter -- essentially the city's constitution -- should be conducted both with an eye toward the largely successful precedent set by the existing charter as well as potential changes that can help city leaders govern both democratically and effectively.

The charter review should not be about political squabbles, it should be about governing, and governing well.

Yet over the last five months, the review has not often been about those important goals.

For example: Early in the process, which began in December 2007, one member of the commission suggested that members read through the document and set aside any items on which there was disagreement. Those items would face later debate.

But so far, among the substantive issues, disagreeable items have far outnumbered the items of agreement. Commissioners have gotten stuck on everything from how many wards there should be in Augusta to fundamental details about the citizen referendum process to whether zoning changes must be submitted to a citywide vote.

If two of those three issues sound familiar, it's because they are. The zoning issue harkens back to significant conflicts -- still in litigation -- over the spread of commercial development in the city.

The referendum issue likewise stems from another fight over how the city council dealt with one particular set of citizens over their rights to get a referendum on the ballot. Some of those citizens are on the commission.

In mid-May, despite all the conflict, commissioners entertained the idea of preparing a summary of what they'd been able to work on and work out in anticipation of a public meeting to unveil the commission's progress.

Chairman Mark O'Brien injected a note of reality when he suggested that would be a futile endeavor, since commissioners hadn't agreed on enough to make a real list.

Some commissioners have said they may need more than the year allotted to them for charter review.

Unless the members of the city's Charter Commission can all agree that governance is the issue, not grievance, they could well be meeting still when the next charter review time is upon us.

There are times when we are called on to rise above our individual agendas and work for the common good. As we well know even on this editorial board, that often takes setting aside some deeply held prejudices and assumptions and taking positions that as individuals we might not take.

Such is the case with the Augusta Charter Commission. Its members are there to work for the whole city. We urge individual members to recognize that, to understand that they must work together, not in factions, and make common cause with people with whom they never imagined agreeing. If they can do that, then all of Augusta will benefit.