You might be right. Or not too much - at least for me, when I heard that story, this particular decision seemed odd - surely such obvious ways to save on expens

You might be right. Or not too much - at least for me, when I heard that story, this particular decision seemed odd - surely such obvious ways to save on expenses were considered before, so why they were rejected? In general, if something seems good on the surface it doesn't necessarily actually is - and in complex systems, like a town, some checklists - I'd expect - should be followed. But I agree that we might lose track of why some decisions were made. Yes, we may want to revert old decisions, sometimes even have to. Just some responsibility, which comes with power.