The swirl of negative emotion was palpable at City Hall on Monday, when more than 100 people gathered to show their support for apparently embattled City Manager Cleve Morris.

OK, so maybe “embattled” is too strong a word — especially knowing the City Council’s closed session meeting did not, in fact, end in any action against Morris. But everyone sure seemed ready for something bad to happen.

It started with the council spending more than two hours in closed session discussing Morris the week before. It continued with the announcement of Monday’s special meeting to discuss Morris’ performance, and it became further inflamed by Irrigator and Modesto Bee articles outlining some of the concerns the council had about Morris.

Throw in Hughson’s all-too-recent city manager flap, the broiling controversy over the Del Puerto Health Center’s attempted move to the Keystone Pacific Business Park, and the occasionally personal nature of small-town politics, and it’s easy to see why many assumed Morris was on his way out.

But instead, the council did something totally unexpected. And refreshing.

The members talked, and they talked a lot — more than four hours combined between the two meetings. That wasn’t the surprising part.

Although we weren’t behind those closed doors, what happened in those talks can be nothing but encouraging. Any personal feelings that could have ruled the discussion and the decision were trumped by logic and reason. It was decided that whatever concerns there were about Morris, they did not outweigh the good things he’s done for this city and were not enough to warrant his termination — nor even to bring it to a vote — and that instead, he could be given direction on things he needed to improve.

That levelheaded decision brought applause from the audience, and it brings a little from us, as well.

The council will soon be presented with the signatures of about 2,000 local residents who think the Del Puerto Health Center should be allowed to move to Keystone. That will provide another opportunity for the council to show its ability to engage in a productive debate and come to a logical conclusion, regardless of whether it decides to adopt the health center’s initiative or deny it and force a special election.

We liked the side of the council we saw this week in its handling of the Morris situation. It won’t be easy, but we hope the council can take the same clear-minded, even-tempered approach when it is presented with the health center initiative.

That will be the council’s next big challenge, and we’d like to think it’s up for it.