Davis School District is currently paying $500 a day for a consultant to redraw high school boundaries.

And while some residents say it is an investment that should have never been made, they feel the price tag for the work is about right.

"(The cost) doesn't make me terribly uncomfortable, but the way it was done after spending so much in the (committee) process is a waste of taxpayer money," said Ronald Mortensen, co-founder of CitizensForTaxFairness.org. "We should never have been in the position of having to hire him anyway."

He also there should have been a bid process, rather than staying within the "old boy network."

"It would have looked better and cleaner had there been a bid process and an objective decision on who they hired," Mortensen said.

Darrell White, former Davis superintendent and former governor's education deputy, was hired last month and has been on the job since Nov. 27.

While there is no end date on the contract, it states that White "shall take into consideration that time is of the essence and complete the project in as quickly a time frame as is reasonably possible."

Chris Williams, spokesman for the district, said White indicated he should have the proposal ready by the Jan. 2 board of education meeting.

White's consultant job comes after the Davis Board of Education voted last month to start from scratch after a court order halted further boundary discussion based on any research and work done by the Boundary Advisory Committee.

A 2nd District Court judge in Farmington, responding to claims that the Boundary Advisory Committee formed to recommend new boundaries violated the state's open meetings law, issued a restraining order preventing the district from using any of the information gathered by the committee to make boundary decisions.

Due to time constraints the district opted to start over and hire a consultant rather than await further action by the court.

District leaders said that White was the best man for the job given his credentials and history with the district.

But some parents said that it would have been better had the district gone forward with the initial committee's recommendations rather than creating a new proposal and spending more money.

"It's frustrating that they began the process with a (committee) and some input and now they have to do a quick last-minute rush and hire a consultant ... it's a concern that the money has to be spent," said Janeth Balle, a Davis County parent.

"The poor man has a job before him that is about impossible to tackle ... I don't know how they talked him into it," Balle said.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com