In our daily lives, when we aren’t sure about something, we tend to look to the experts for information or recommendations. We trust that their long, focused careers on a given subject will provide better guidance than, say, our own gut check. You can’t just add a second story to your home without having an expert first determine if the project is even feasible, right?

The same goes for the folks making up our Town Council. They all bring their own expertise to the dais and make decisions based on their personal knowledge and experience. But when it comes to big decisions that will have an impact on the thousands of people living in this community, they rely on experts to help guide their decisions with studies, thorough breakdowns and plenty of data.

This isn’t a new practice. It’s something we’ve done since the town was first incorporated and these types of studies are already anticipated in the annual budget. It can be costly, but it’s also a necessity.

Whether considering adding a red light on a particular street, making amendments to the town’s noise ordinance or reevaluating safety contracts, there’s only so much our council members can do on their own to understand the intricacies of complex topics, frequently in fields they do not specialize in themselves. In those instances, we have to fork over money for consultation, guidance, studies and real-world data.

That’s just how it is, folks. We can’t demand our council make difficult decisions backed by facts and then begrudge them the cost of doing so. If we want our local leaders to make the best decisions possible, based on the most complete information available, that’s something we have to be willing to pay for.