The right time to have the discussion would have been before bringing three people in for interviews, but the Alpena County Board of Commissioners needs to have a frank and comprehensive discussion today about whether the county should hire a county administrator.

Alpena County taxpayers should join that conversation. The board meets at 1 p.m. today at the county annex building, 719 W. Chisholm St., Alpena.

Here’s the background:

Former Alpena County county administrator Mary Catherine Hannah, who had been hired after the county for several years worked without an administrator, left earlier this year to take a job as county administrator in Saginaw County.

The Alpena County board hired a consultancy firm, Amy Cell Talent, of Ypsilanti, to help the board find applicants for a potential replacement. That firm received several applications, but ultimately recommended the board interview three finalists who had submitted resumes directly to the county board.

The board interviewed those finalists — former Alpena County administrator Jeff Thornton, former Gladwin County administrator Mark Justin, and current Alpena County Commissioner Jesse Osmer — on Friday (Osmer has recused himself from voting on any administrator search questions).

Meanwhile, the county is in poor financial shape, staring at a $1.8 million shortfall this year that’ll have to be covered from the county’s dwindling cash savings. Commissioner Burt Francisco on Friday said the county had discovered another $100,000 expense for which it hadn’t budgeted, pushing that budget shortfall up to $1.9 million.

After Friday’s interviews, Francisco said the county might want to consider leaving the administrator position open to save the $85,000 to $115,000 annual salary the board had offered for the position.

Commissioner Brenda Fournier has also questioned the need for an administrator, and three former county employees — retired county clerk Bonnie Friedrichs, retired treasurer Joelyn McCallum, and retired administrative assistant to the board Tammy Bates (who together have a combined more than a century of county government experience) — told the board on Friday county staff could handle the work without an administrator.

The board needs to weigh the pros and cons of both directions.

We have no doubt the county staff could handle the work of keeping the county running without a top executive, allowing the county to save significant sums by not paying an administrator’s hefty salary and benefits package. In a tough financial position, that’s a definite pro.

That would leave it to the county board to analyze its budget and make the tough decisions necessary to cut the remainder of the deficit.

However, hiring an administrator while facing down a deficit could be a pro. Hiring someone puts a professional in charge of not only scouring the budget for savings, but also looking for grants and other sources of income to lower the deficit. A county administrator also puts a clear person in charge to make day-to-day decisions that can affect the county budget and operations.

The county needs to weigh those pros and cons today and make a decision about which direction commissioners want to go. They owe it to the three finalists they interviewed so they can plan for their own futures.

And the county board owes it to the public to let them know who’s in charge at the county.