If Morgan County Human Resources director Terry Nacarrato fails to survive his six-month probation period, a lot of people will have a lot of explaining to do.

In casting the deciding vote to have the HR director serve his full six months instead of three months' probation, Commission Chairman John Glasscock was lavish in his praise of Mr. Nacarrato.

"He's doing a great job, and I've never had any intentions of getting rid of him," Mr. Glasscock said.

The vote ended efforts by Commissioners Stacy George and Ken Livingston to give Mr. Nacarrato political cover from courthouse intrigue. They maintained that a confrontation with Sheriff Greg Bartlett over hirings in his department jeopardized Mr. Nacarrato's chances of surviving in the job for six months.

So at an Oct. 3 meeting when Commissioner Jeff Clark was absent, the two commissioners rammed through an exception to the probation policy, which gave Mr. Nacarrato early civil service protection against firing.

With Mr. Clark back in his seat this week, he and Commissioner Kevin Murphy recruited Mr. Glasscock to break a tie vote and reinstate the full probation period, which has about two months to run.

Their argument was that all county employees should be treated equally. That is sound policy. But it is bad government if the commission succeeds in ousting the new HR person because he insists on following policies and federal guidelines in hiring.

Last month, Mr. Clark reaffirmed his support for Mr. Nacarrato:

"No, I wouldn't vote to fire him," he replied to a reporter's question. "I think Terry is going to be fine. I don't think Terry is going to back down from anybody on what he believes in. The county needs Terry. I just want the probation to be the same for everybody."

In September, Commissioner Kevin Murphy said Mr. Nacarrato had done an exceptional job.

If Mr. Nacarrato doesn't survive, the reason might be that he was overqualified for the job courthouse officials want him to do. That would be a shame.

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