The Dec. 6 Osceola County Commission decision to terminate County Attorney Jo Thacker and County Auditor Kathy Wall was not a good one for the county. Here are our reasons:

• The three commissioners – John Quiñones, Frank Attkisson and Michael Harford – who voted to terminate didn’t have very good reasons for doing so. No one said that Thacker or Wall did anything wrong or didn’t do something the commission specifically asked for.

Quiñones mentioned the need to look for “potential savings and efficiencies.” That’s pretty vague. Quiñones even said his decision had “nothing to do with” Thacker’s performance.

Attkisson said his vote was about “setting a tone for the county” in terms of saving money. The tone being set here is that the commission will terminate top employees without good reason during a hastily added meeting agenda item.

• The idea that Thacker’s termination will somehow reduce overall county legal costs doesn’t add up, not when you figure in the cost to buy her out of her contract. We also don’t believe that outsourcing more legal work will produce savings. If anything, the commission first should have looked at cutting legal staff.

• The commission earlier this year discussed instituting an annual evaluation process for all three of the county’s top administrators, including the county manager. That never happened. They also promised to define the roles and responsibilities of the three staffers. That didn’t happen either. Also, any defining of roles or responsibilities should have been done with input from both Thacker and Wall.

• Thacker’s termination along with talk of outsourcing legal work undoubtedly has left that office in turmoil and remaining staff possibly looking for new jobs. It would have been better to terminate these two employees, if that is what the commission really wanted to do, when their contracts were up for renewal.

Attkisson also has suggested that perhaps the county should have someone from the outside look at the legal department to see how it is operating. That independent look would no doubt cost taxpayers money. It also should have been done before making any decision to terminate Thacker.

Attkisson also suggested that the auditor’s role should be expanded, to include, for example, economic forecasting. Those added skills would mean higher pay and that, we believe, would be wasting money, since there probably already is a county employee with that skill.