FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A committee appointed by the City Council to recommend a process for developing Fairhope’s first strategic plan e-mailed its final report to the council Thursday.

The Strategic Planning Process Committee is on the July 28 council meeting agenda to outline the report recommendations and answer questions.

“Here’s what we’re going to present,” said Committee Chairman Chuck Zunk, during the group’s July 17 meeting to approve the final draft of its report, stating he would e-mail the report to the council and mayor shortly after making the final changes. “This will give everybody the maximum opportunity to review it before the meeting.”

The committee was appointed by the council April 14 to recommend to the council a process for accomplishing a strategic plan for the city.

The five-page report describes strategic planning and the reason for doing it; how the strategic plan would mesh with the city’s Comprehensive Plan; the time and cost involved; and the recommendations of the committee.

The work of the Strategic Planning Process Committee was an outgrowth of a recommendation that the city needed to have a strategic plan, which was made last October by an earlier committee on government structure. That report recommended the council consider hiring a consultant to facilitate the city’s strategic planning process, but the report sent to the council stated that “within Fairhope there is a talent pool of people interested in supplying volunteer leadership to this process.”

Some council members have also stated that if the committee recommended hiring a consultant, the council might not move forward with the process.

The report to be considered by the council on July 28 contains 10 recommendations:

“1. At the first City Council meeting in September, the Council will approve seven “citizen” members to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, one of whom would be Chairman. The Committee will have a total of nine members, the other two being the mayor and a council member (named by the council president). The committee chairman will also serve as facilitator in meetings, as required.

2. The Steering Committee will need three months to train its members regarding strategic planning, and to develop its plan of action for 2009.

3. In January and February 2009, the City Council, mayor and city department heads will participate in a training and education program on how to do the first annual cycle of the strategic plan, with training conducted by the Steering Committee. … The training should be open to the public so that individuals and special interest groups will better understand how to participate in the strategic planning process.

4. In March through May 2009, the mayor and key department heads, coached by members of the Steering Committee, create a three-year look-ahead plan using the model from the Comprehensive Planning process. This plan draft goes to the Treasurer by late May so that financial projections and cash requirements can be done.

5. At public meetings from July through September 2009, this plan draft is opened up for public discussion. All citizens and public interest groups will be invited to public forums to critique the plan, offer suggestions, discuss priorities, and so forth. The central point of the meetings is to gather public input into the planning process at a point in time when the plan is still just a draft.

6. Based on input from the public meetings, a revised draft is prepared by the mayor during October and November 2009.

7. At the first regularly scheduled City Council meeting in December 2009, the council conducts a public hearing on the three-year plan draft and financial projections. Council directs the mayor to revise the plan (or not) based on the public hearing and of course the individual and collective opinions of the respective council members. Note: the council may want to consider conducting two public hearings, not just one, to maximize the opportunity for public participation and comment on the draft plan.

8. A final revised draft is prepared by the mayor for presentation at the second regularly scheduled City Council meeting in January 2010. Approval of the plan including financial projections is accomplished by resolution.

9. The same process and timing is repeated again in each following year, but with increasing emphasis on financial projections, and on departmental action plans to implement various parts of the plan.

10. As soon as the FY 2010/11 plan cycle is completed, the Steering Committee convenes to create a plan for making the planning process more robust for future annual cycles. Improvements to be made for future annual cycles would include: lengthening the planning horizon from three years to five; more emphasis on long range community goals and life style issues; more emphasis on City strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (known as SWOT) analysis; more details in the Strategic Plan itself, and the respective action plans for implementation; more emphasis on cash flow planning; more emphasis on contingency planning should basic assumptions about revenues, costs, growth, and so forth change significantly during the plan years; and, more emphasis on making sure that the annual budgeting process reflects the overlying elements of the Strategic Plan.”

Zunk said the key to group’s recommendations is that the city get started with the initial planning process and to appoint a steering committee that can begin meeting in September.

The Strategic Planning Process committee initially consisted of Zunk, City Council President Bob Gentle, John Gutknecht, Dick Kwapil, Councilwoman Debbie Quinn and one other person who could not serve.

Zunk said early meetings at the James P. Nix Center garnered interest by other people and groups, such as the Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board.

He said the committee was reorganized during the first month, and the following individuals were added to the committee at that time: Ron Heveran, Dave Jester, Lonnie Mixon, Harry Phillips and Marvin Wilder.

“It’s good for the council to see that a lot of people were involved with this,” Zunk said, referring to the committee members listed at the end of the report.

Other people have also attended the meetings, which have been open to the public, he said.

Zunk sent copies of the draft report to those requesting them during the work of the committee.

During Thursday’s meeting, Zunk said he had added one sentence to the draft since the group’s July 7 meeting, stating that the January and February trainings in Recommendation 3 should be open to the public for individuals to better understand how to participate in the strategic planning process.

“My feeling is those meetings ought to be open to the public,” Zunk said. “I think it increases the feeling of transparency. It the public feels they are part of the process, so much the better.”