Here’s a novel idea.Maybe instead of electing three council members in November 2018 voters can eliminate the middleman and elect consultants.The problem isn’t Manteca using consultants as it is how much common sense at times they appear to be abdicating when dealing with hired guns.First, let’s be clear on one point. A lot of “consultants” per se are hired because Manteca’s municipal staff has been on the starvation funding diet as more and more reserves are created for things such as “economic revilitalzation” so more and more money can be squirreled away at 1001 W. Center St.All the money Manteca is “saving” by creating general fund reserves beyond 25 percent forces the city either to hire extra engineering help on a consulting basis for relatively minor projects or delay smaller projects for years. That has the added bonus of eroding the purchasing power of dollars set aside for projects such as the Northgate Park group picnic renovation thanks to construction inflationBut the real flagrant failure in using consultants is how elected leaders at times forget they are the policy setters.