Dear Members: The proposed budget contains the following item: Professional Support-3 $30,000.00 Footnote 3 reads as follows: 3-Proposal to hire consultant on a p/t [meaning "part time"] basis for RC advocacy . The spoken intent of Excom is to hire one consultant/advocate at a fixed monthly retainer of $2,500/month for a year. I don't know whether that is a good idea or not. Yes, have frequent needs for someone to draft documents such as the "Impact Statement" recently promulgated. But it may be questioned whether it is in the best interest of the Constituency to keep any one specific consultant on a retainer. In my mind, the "Budget" is a long range plan. I think that specific expenses must first be anticipated in the Budget, but expenses over some threshold need to be "appropriated" from time to time during the year. The U.S. Congress may approve a project, but may --- or may not --- "appropriate" the funds for some later date. I think a budget item as much as the US$30,000 requires a few more steps and more Member input than it is being given. Regards, BobC