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presenting a contract to the City Manager for execution. The plan is to have the <br />consultant start in mid-January or February. <br /> <br />Mr. Gardner spoke on HLA’S scope of work and proposed work schedule. (A copy is <br />attached at the end of these minutes.) He noted that this is an 18-24 month process, <br />and there is flexibility for change built in. He stated the plan is not the plan of the <br />consultant or the officials, but the community vision plan, making outreach a goal so that <br />at the end of the process everyone in the community has had an opportunity to <br />participate. He further stated that the branding will not be a rebranding of University <br />City, but rather a branding of the process of developing the comprehensive city plan. <br />He gave illustrations of engagement of residents, the business community, key person <br />interviewing, focus groups, social media, and other community engagement tools. All <br />outreach will be collectively summarized and well as individual groups and <br />organizations outreach. He noted that they will do an existing conditions analysis, <br />covering past plans, zoning, demographics, retail market overview, existing land use <br />and development, growth areas, community facilities and infrastructure. <br /> <br />Mayor Welsch asked when this would be finished, and Mr. Gardner responded that <br />would be about six months into the planning process. <br /> <br />Mr. Senturia asked to whom the existing conditions analysis would come and Mr. <br />Gardner responded that it would be brought by staff to the committee. <br /> <br />Ms. Carr noted that the Consultants plan had provided for developing online outreach, <br />but that much of our Community was not online, and is unwilling to use those venues. <br />She asked if we would be making provision to provide the same exciting materials to <br />them. Mr. Gardner responded in the affirmative noting that the plan included many <br />traditional approaches. Ms. Carr then noted that we have a tendency to go for the <br />important persons/stakeholders and miss a whole segment of the community. She feels <br />it is important to get a buy-in from those other people. Mr. Gardner stated that is why <br />Added Dimension is on the team, and would be making outreach to engage the others. <br /> <br />Ms. Locke noted that after the interview with Houseseal Lavigne the committee realized <br />they needed an additional layer of outreach proposed by Added Dimensions, and asked <br />the two teams to work together. <br /> <br />Mayor Welsch expressed a concern that our community may not have been known well <br />enough, and suggested to the committee that they really understand this community. <br />Mr. Gardner concurred, adding that MaryAnn Taylor-Crate’s experience here was <br />invaluable. He felt there may be a need to go to the stakeholders when and where they <br />are available, though not segregation is intended. The Mayor mentioned that our new <br />Commissions on Youth and Seniors may be invaluable. She then asked if we owned <br />the website after the process, in case we want to keep this going. Mr. Gardner stated <br />that the website will be linked to the City’s URL so that it could not be hijacked. He <br />suggested that we could keep this up and going after the process is completed. <br /> <br />Mr. Glickert asked if there was any interaction between these consultants and the <br />Brighton Agency. Ms. Riganti stated that they envisioned bringing Brighton into the mix, <br /> <br /> 2 <br /> <br />