A tenure of nearly three decades came to an end Thursday night, despite the protestation of six former Fayette County Commission chairmen.

Bill McNally’s term as county attorney did not end quietly, and continues to dominate the news, as a letter in today’s edition indicates. (See Page A4 for the letter and publisher Cal Beverly’s opinion.)

In the letter, the chairmen, Jerry Barronton, Harold Bost, Greg Dunn, Rick Price, George Patton and Steve Wallace, wondered about the motives surrounding McNally’s dismissal.

“So why are they getting rid of him? It’s hard to figure out. The only reason mentioned was that an ‘in-house attorney’ might save some money. Yet the staff completed an analysis which concluded no savings would be achieved by creating an in-house legal department. We do note that Commissioner Maxwell made removal of Bill McNally one of his highest priorities during his campaign. Is this a political payback?” wrote the chairmen.

During Thursday’s meeting, former Chairman George Patton pointed out the current commission wouldn’t be conducting meetings in the current building without McNally’s aid.

“On one cold January morning, Bill McNally and I went down to Atlanta and signed a contract on this building,” he said.

Patton can’t figure out why the county wanted to get rid of somebody with McNally’s legal experience.

Former Chairman Harold Bost called McNally the “best there is at what he does” and questioned whether the commission would really save money.

“You can keep Bill at the same price as hiring an inexperienced in-house attorney,” he added.

By far the most vocal former chairman was Greg Dunn. Dunn blamed the removal of McNally as part of a “personal agenda.”

“There may be some vendetta from the past or professional reasons, but we don’t know,” he added.

Dunn deemed the loss of McNally’s firm as a blow to the county and said there was no way that an inexperienced lawyer could bring the courtroom and legal experience that McNally contributed over the last three decades.