We never thought we'd be waiting this long to have a new director in place for Cayuga County's department of mental health services.

The future direction of that agency #- and the board that oversees it #- are both up in the air nearly six months after the departure of the person who used to oversee both.

After first insisting that both the mental health director and the chair of the Community Services Board serve at the discretion of the Legislature, the county then backed off after being told it would be overstepping its authority with regard to the board's oversight. The director of the board, it turns out, is legally obligated to answer only to the board, not the county.

We understand the Legislature's desire to tread carefully, given the contentious relationship that developed between the county and the former mental health director, but there are still too many unanswered questions about the hiring process.

But now here we are, a week after candidates were said to be interviewing for a combined job of mental health director and Community Services Board director, and the county still doesn't have a job description in place, saying that they now need to discuss the possibility of hiring two different people for the two jobs.

The interviews were being held jointly by members of the Legislature and the Community Services Board, but people in charge of the job search don't know #- or at least aren't saying #- if they're even close to a conclusion.

The question of who answers to whom and whether or not there is a need for one candidate or two should have been answered a long time ago #- certainly before the parameters of the job had seemingly been established and candidates invited to take part in interviews.