"Now that is hardly what you spend $40,000 for consultants to do," Tassell said. "They're trying to manipulate the consultants to say what Mayor Lewis Billings wants them to say."

Anderson said critics base their assertions on just one side of a conversation. She said city officials wanted to break down their goals between allocation of deficit and profitability. In this case, she said, they asked CCG Consulting to focus on allocation.

"The city was not putting any kind of pressure on the consultant," Anderson said.

Anderson said it's only fair to contemplate charging city departments for their use of iProvo as if they were paying an independent service provider.

"It's really just a way of acknowledging the city benefits, and it should pay as well," she said.

She also said Dawson's recommendations for profitability are included in the draft reports.

Turley said they've been waiting four months to see the consultant reports. Each passing day costs the city about $5,800, he said, based on iProvo losses last year in subsidies and deficits.

Turley also said he's frustrated his colleagues on the council didn't support his motion to request the consultant reports.

"We know the mayor isn't acting, but why isn't the council reacting?" he said.

Council Chairwoman Cindy Richards said they didn't request the reports from the mayor because they want the reports to be finished before they are released.

"I don't see how leaning on an incomplete report ... is going to help solve anything," she said.

Turley said he's contemplating an appeal on his denied GRAMA request for copies of the consultant reports.

"I'm not satisfied," he said. "We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars slipping through our fingers while we're waiting for a draft."

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E-mail: jdana@desnews.com