A burgeoning marriage of convenience may never make it to the altar.

The city of Bainbridge Island and the Bainbridge Island Fire Department have been courting for months now, and the notion of joining together to build a combination police station/fire hall has been analyzed by consultants and been blessed, so to speak, by the respective families (a recent poll found that 72 percent of islanders favored a joint police/fire facility on Madison Avenue).

This week, however, city council members made it clear that they would not meet an impending deadline for a decision on whether to partner with the fire department and build a joint-use facility.

Instead, council members said they would continue to talk about the idea at an upcoming study session.

From our perspective, this doesn’t appear to be a case of night-before-the-wedding cold feet. Instead, it seems the prenuptial jitters run much deeper than that.

Let’s put the city in the groom-to-be role, and the fire department as the willing fiancée who’s waited for months for her significant other to not only pop the question but set the date.

Unfortunately, it seems the fire department has found a suitor searching for any possible reason to delay any true signal of commitment, and one that is struggling to even get to the “engaged to be engaged” point.

No doubt, bringing this complex union to fruition would have required more than just patience, but real desire.

A lot of work, too. Creating a dual facility would have meant some heavy lifting down the road; compromises on building changes, coming to grips with financial demands and how to pay for them, considering and allowing for the needs of the significant other in the relationship.

But after this week’s council meeting, we’re left with the realization that both sides in this match don’t have the same sense of urgency to get moving on new and improved public facilities. The bride-to-be seems ready, but the groom — after taking a break to look at options for staying single at places away from Madison Avenue — is now looking for a date with Visconsi on the other side of the highway.

The fire department deserves credit for even considering a partnership with the city. That said, it now seems time for the fire department to play runaway bride and go forward, alone.