Overseeing public utilities ranks right up there with police protection as one of local government’s most important responsibilities. That’s why D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty should rethink his decision to appoint his wife’s best friend as the city’s top utilities regulator. When current Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman Agnes Yates’ four-year term expired two days after Christmas, the mayor refused to sign emergency legislation passed by the D.C. Council to extend her term three months until a suitable replacement could be found, The Examiner’s Bill Myers reported Monday. That left the commission’s leadership position vacant on a three-person panel that oversees gas, electricity, water, and telecommunications services to District homes and offices.