Several Wakulla County contractors are up in arms over the recent firing of building official Luther Council. Ben Withers has worked with Council over the past several year and he and others are concerned that Council was terminated because he presented a memo questioning the cost allocation plan for the county and the building permit fees.

"My understanding that he was going to be threatened termination or could possibly be fired if he brought this memo forward and so yes, we're very concerned about what the real reasons are," explained Withers.

County administrator Ben Pingree recalls when the issue was brought up. "About 6 months ago, he came to my office and talked to me and my budget staff about how these documents and how this process impacted his service. And we had a very positive conversation at that time and we answered the questions he had," said Pingree.

Pingree would not comment on Council's termination because the appeal process is ongoing. But he did provide documents to prove that Council's memo was not the reason he was fired.

Commissioners voted 3 to 2 to have a review committee and the Attorney General's office look at the cost allocation plan to ensure everything is in line. "What we're getting from staff is that they're very confident that the committee will find that it was properly done. But the community, they have to see that this review was done not in house, not internal," said Wakulla County Commissioner Howard Kessler.

The commissioners will decide if revisions need to be made to the plan once the committee and the Attorney General's office report back to the board.

Council said he will not comment about this incident until he's hired an attorney.