It’s hard not to call into question the process by which the Town Council last week fired Town Attorney Andrew McGuire. As Councilman Alan Magazine pointed out during that Oct. 3 meeting, the format seemed inappropriate at the time. And following revelations that surfaced later in the week, we can’t help but feel this messy situation could have been avoided entirely were a bit more time and care dedicated to a complex matter that was treated as anything but.

We’re not here to comment on the quality of work McGuire or his parent firm of Gust Rosenfeld has provided Fountain Hills over the past 15 years. Whether or not it was time for the Town to part ways with its longstanding legal representation is not a matter we wish to debate.

In other words, we’re not weighing in on whether or not McGuire deserved to be fired. As stated during the Oct. 3 meeting, neither The Times nor the general public is privy to all of the details in matters such as these. We appreciate that a lot of discussion and business takes place behind closed doors and out of public view and, while it may seem that McGuire was doing a sound job on the surface, Councilmembers alluded to a history of issues that created a cause for concern.

We believe that if Councilmembers had these concerns and believed McGuire’s efforts were not adequate, they have every right to call that into question.

The problem we have is with the process by which this was carried out. Matters such as this are usually the very type that occurs behind closed doors, unless the party involved requests a public hearing. That was not offered. Instead, McGuire was presented to a metaphorical firing squad in a public forum and taken to task. Rather than have the grievances against him stated in private with proper time to prepare his own defense, he was instead verbally reprimanded on the spot and only able to defend himself to the extent he could argue in the heat of the moment.

To make matters worse, The Times was notified Friday, Oct. 6, that Bruce Hazzard, vice president of development for Real Capital Solutions, reached out to Mayor Linda Kavanagh and the Town Council in regards to the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.” While our 1A coverage provides additional details, the abbreviated version is that Hazzard himself requested the communication that McGuire had been taken to task and ultimately fired over. While Councilmembers call into question McGuire’s version of the conversation versus the one offered by Hazzard, that simply means there are still questions in need of answers. McGuire’s version of the facts may be accurate. The problem is that the Council cannot be sure on that matter because they did not take the time to find out.

This is exactly the type of information that would have surfaced if this process had been given the time and attention it deserved. Parties should have been questioned, facts should have been checked and additional details should have been gathered.

Whether or not it was time for McGuire to go, we feel there is little room to argue that the process by which he was ousted was needlessly hasty and reckless.