Thank you, Mayor and Council.

So our last council meeting on your agenda was resolution number 26-26, which is to select Shocky Consulting as the preferred contractor to assist the city with the creation of our Bless Tomorrow 2050 comprehensive plan, downtown master plan.

Council has some questions regarding the study, why now, what's it going to accomplish.

Staff prepared a memorandum that went out to you all, I believe, two weeks ago.

And then Shocky also prepared a memorandum that we sent to you last Friday.

They're here in the audience to introduce themselves to you, and then just to kind of talk about you know what their process will be to go through this comprehensive plan effort with the city, public engagement, and kind of what you could expect to kind of come out of the overall project.

So with that, I do want to invite Sheila Shocky.

Um she's the owner of Shocky Consulting, and Mr.

Jeffrey Williams is here with her also.

Uh they are going to be assisting the city with this project, hopefully.

So they have a quick 10-15 minute presentation, and then we're here to answer any questions that you may have.

And just for clarification, it's resolution 26-13.

He's probably got 26, but it's different things.

Great.

Hi, I'm Sheila Shockey with Shockey Consulting.

Glad to be here with you today, talk about comprehensive plan and downtown master plan.

And with me is Jeffrey Williams, who would be your project manager.

Uh we have a team assembled ready to get started on your project and want to answer questions about the process and how you can engage today.

So it's important, I think, for you to think about why to do a comp long range comprehensive plan.

And you're at kind of a good time frame to do it right now.

You've got um uh new elected officials, uh, you're starting kind of a um a new day, you're on a pivotable, pivotal uh core um opportunity to really change your community and set the stage for the next four years.

And um oftentimes when um you have some newly elected officials, there'll be a look at the comprehensive plan in the communities we work at because it's a it's a way to kind of set your agenda for the future.

And so, what that would do would allow you to then eventually put together some major decisions in this process with community engagement and get the community behind those decisions so that you can implement your capital improvement plan, new zoning and subdivision regulations, and put in place some other policies that will help frame the future.

So just a little bit of understanding of what a comprehensive plan is.

You have one right now, um, it's um comprehensive plan 2030.

Wanted to um let you know it does set um policy direction that directs your staff.

It also is a tool that developers use and business owners and others in your community to decide whether they want to make decision or want to make uh investments in your community in the future.

And so it aligns your land use, your infrastructure, housing, economic development in one document that tells folks where you want to head and how they can participate in that.

Uh it's also a legal document that helps you defend your zoning and subdivision regulations, and it's a way for you to articulate as an elected body what your future uh vision is for the community.

And uh one of the questions that you asked was you know, you still have your plan is still good till 2030.

And um, we often hear this that you know we have set the plan for a longer time frame, and that hasn't expired yet.

But really, what you do when you do comprehensive plans is you look out 20 years, and that's your vision where you want to be in 20 years, and the plan really itself talks about probably more five and ten year increments about how to get you there.

And so it's good to look at your comprehensive plan more frequently than the 20-year time frame.

Oftentimes the the world changes, um, your uh your policies and maybe best practices change over time, but also your main planning is within a five and 10-year increment typically, and so you've really we've looked through your comprehensive plan and worked with staff, kind of talking through what's been done.

A lot of it has already been accomplished in your um your plan, and so it's important really to think about you're setting a vision, you're setting goals that are long term and 20 years, but really a lot of your implementation is in the first five to ten years, and so it's a good time right now to be thinking 20 years in the future so that you can continue to kind of build out those five and ten 15-year action plans.

And then um, I know you've had some struggles with your zoning and subdivision regulations.

A lot of that is happening for communities across the country, and we're experiencing that with a lot of our clients, and that's because of uh changes in housing practices and housing demand.

And so really it's a good time now to take a look at your long range plans so that you can come back in and make your zoning and subdivision regulations and all of those um regulatory constraints that you have uh really fit what it is your vision is for um housing and development in the future.

So, Jeffrey, there you go.

Sheila, thank you.

Let's go back.

No, I think you go the other direction.

There you go.

It's only moving in one direction.

Let's see.

There we go.

My apologies.

Sped us through.

So again, I'm I'm Jeffrey Williams.

I'm a senior project manager at Shocky Consulting.

Uh, but I've had a career of 30 plus years in city planning and development, and actually working for a number of communities that have gone through a comprehensive uh planning and downtown master planning process.

And so much of the success in having that process accomplish what you're looking for is the timing.

So when can an elected body or city begin this process and how does that align with elected leadership and even selection of leadership from a city departmental perspective?

So, why starting now?

I think that was one of the questions.

Uh, as uh a new council, a new city administration, it's a great time to really look at the comprehensive plan and updating your downtown master plan to really help set an agenda not only for the city how grows the development but yourself as a body as well.

Umity to the table to talk about what some of their goals and expectations are, not only community but staff as well.

Doing that upfront gives you the time.

Sheila talked about the idea that comprehensive plan is about implementation.

And so starting now and setting vision now in the first few years of your term allows you to begin align your funding uh to be able to execute those projects and visions that have been selected.