Just how dumb are we?

The Editor,
Just how dumb do some individuals believe the population is? (Re: Article, December 7, “Counties set to spend $107K on cultural mapping study.”)
Where have all the other similar and/or related studies completed in the last 20 years gone? If they accomplished nothing to date, why do another?
In reading the article and the plan, all I see is hiring consultants to do the jobs some individuals are hired to do in the first place. A short article, but look at the list of committees, consultants, etc. involved.
•UCPR
•UCPR tourism partners
•Committee of the whole
•Economic Development for Prescott Russell
•Newly-formed Prescott Russell Tourism Association
•The eight Municipalities of Prescott Russell
•Economic Development and Tourism for the counties
•Prescott-Russell Community Development Corporation
•Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture
•Creative Communities Prosperity Fund
According to the article, they will all get together to develop a call for a tender (spend more) relating to the objectives to complete an inventory of all our cultural resources and will HIRE a CONSULTANT to create a report on how to carry out the project.
This is telling me they don’t know what the project is all about but will spend $107,000-plus anyway. The consultant will carry out all of the goals and objectives of the project. (Somewhere along the line, the consultant sets the objectives and then hires another consultant or himself to execute the consultant’s goals and objectives. Getting dizzy here?)
So they will spend and hire costly consultants to do the job that was done multiple times before. Within the list of organizations listed as participating, they can’t get it done themselves – tasks for which they were hired and have been achieved several times in the last 20 years under different headings and groups.
But be happy. They do not waste and only raised our taxes by 2.5 per cent.
Just how dumb are we to accept this kind of waste in hard times? Maybe they know or could hire a consultant to identify our level of dumbness. This is what leads to continuous increases in taxes, etc.

Richard
Charest,
Vankleek Hill