By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

Osceola County commissioners Monday voted unanimously to ink agreements with George Nickerson Jr. as the interim county attorney and Scarlet Gibson as interim county auditor but did not decide how to go about filling the positions permanently.

The commission last week terminated County Attorney Jo Thacker and County Auditor Kathy Wall. According to commissioners, Nickerson, 61, has said he is not interested in filling the position permanently while Gibson, 36, has not ruled it out. Nickerson was an assistant county attorney while Gibson was an auditor in Wall’s department.

The issue for commissioners moving forward, however, will be what the job duties of these two top county administrators would be. Commissioners said they want to look at privatizing some of the legal work in the county attorney’s office and to perhaps expand the duties of the county auditor.

Commissioner John Quiñones, who voted to terminate both Thacker and Wall, suggested the commission appoint a “selection committee” that would look at applicants for the county attorney job and to also look at whether it would be financially feasible to outsource legal work.

Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington said the commission first should decide how the two positions would be filled in terms of reaching potential applicants – through a national search using an agency that could cost anywhere from $8,000 to $22,000, for example, or through advertising in professional organizations statewide at a much lower cost.

“Before we talk about selection committees, we need direction on how to move forward from here,” Arrington said. “We want folks to know that we are working to fill these positions.”

But Commissioner Michael Harford, who voted to terminate Thacker and Wall, said the commission first needs to establish the role of the two offices.

“We have to get the perception of what we want down on paper,” he said. “We have to create job descriptions for all three (including the county manager).

Commissioner Frank Att-kisson said he would support a citizen committee to review applicants but that it is up to the commission to “figure out what we want.”

Attkisson, who also voted to terminate the two administrators, suggested the expanded role for the auditor and establishing specific criteria in terms of the expertise expected.

“Do we want the auditor to do economic forecasting? Revenue projections? Cost benefit analysis?” Attkisson asked.

Attkisson also suggested that perhaps a consulting firm should be hired to look at the legal department and how it operates and how much of the work could be outsourced.

The commission earlier this year after it terminated Michael Freilinger as county manager did discuss establishing clearer roles and job duties for all three of the county’s top administrators to lessen tensions and conflicts between the three offices. The commission at the time also discussed putting in place an annual evaluation process for the employees. Neither process, however, was put into place before the termination of Thacker and Wall.

The county charter requires that the county must have a county auditor and a county attorney but does not specify what those duties would be. The county could outsource legal duties, for example, with the county attorney overseeing that work.

Commissioner Fred Haw-kins Jr., who opposed terminating Thacker and Wall, said he would not support contracts for the permanent replacements that have a large buyout should a termination occur.

Under the agreements approved Monday, Nickerson will earn $168,667 annually while Gibson will earn $87,797.