If it wasn’t on public display before, the deteriorating relationship between the Spencer Board of Aldermen and Manager Terence Arrington is now easy for all to see.

For the citizens they represent, the Board of Aldermen must take action to prevent a further decline.

Over the previous several months, the board has canceled and rescheduled called meetings specifically for “personnel.” As Mayor Jim Gobbel told the Post Monday night following another called meeting, “Things are not as smooth as they could be.”

Monday was a particularly striking example of the deteriorating relationship, as the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP raised allegations of racial discrimination by the board against Arrington. The NAACP threatened to file a suit on Arrington’s behalf, too. Those statements came after the release of audio from a phone call in which the spouse of board member Sylvia Chillcott called Arrington a vulgar word (it was not a racial slur). The Post obtained a copy of a portion of that phone call, but that clip did not contain Chillcott using any profane words.

The events of Monday’s meeting stand in stark contract to October, when Mayor Jim Gobbel said, “We’ve got confidence in (Arrington) and think he’s going to make us a real fine town manager.”

Questions for which the public does not yet have answers include how exactly the manager-board relationship arrived at its current point and whether discussion occurring in closed session involves Arrington not meeting job expectations.

We have clues for the former, including Arrington’s questioning of the town’s purchase of Park Plaza. As for the latter, rules allowing the board to discuss personnel matters in private may prevent the public from ever knowing the answer.

At this juncture, decisive action is needed if Spencer wishes to have a well-functioning town government. A relationship that deteriorates any further is not good for the many residents who live in Spencer’s borders. If a town manager is more focused on whether he’ll soon be fired, he can’t easily focus on the most critical part of his job — running the town of Spencer.

If the town wishes to keep Arrington, who is clearly qualified for the job as manager, it should communicate any displeasure with his job performance and vice versa in an attempt to reset relations.

Otherwise, if the town wants to move on without Arrington, it should show cause for his dismissal and vote to do so.