Save the consulting fee

Dear Editor,

First I would like to commend Councilman Phil Lyons for the job he is doing and has done in the past on our city council. Mr. Lyons has always appeared to have taken the time to do research and study the issues and make intelligent, logical, common sense decisions on those issues, rather than rely on hiring out consultants, engineers or others to make the decisions for him. A good example of that is the air base purchase. Had the council listened to Mr. Lyons, we wouldn't be paying off such a huge debt now.

I guess my question is, why do we pay a high salary for a city manager and have a city council if they continually hire engineers and consultants to tell them what they should be doing?

If the engineers and consultant decisions are so great, why are we still having the problems with our water situation after all the money we've spent over the years for this "expert" advice? What guarantee do we have that we'll get the best advice on our insurance after spending $5,000? Couldn't the city manager and council take the time to research and study the issue, make that decision themselves and use this "consultant" money to help pay next year's premium?

A concerned taxpayer.

Ron Beechley

McCook