City Council Study Session Summary 2011 12 13

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City Council Study Session Summary December 13, 2011 Page 2of 4 Director Russ presented a table illustrating the anticipated cost differences of hiring a consultant to do the update oran in-house option handled by City Planning staff. Among Council and staff there was a substantial amount of discussion involving the pros and cons of hiring a consultant versus staff handling the update. Some of the comments/suggestions made during the discussion were: Councilor Keany understands the City is in the process of working on GIS and Mapping so if the consultant provides this service as a process of the update does the City again pay for it again in the future? Director Russ said there is some redundancy with respect to GIS and Mapping. Who does the traffic counts? Public Works Director said the City hasn’t done traffic counts in 4 years. The traffic count numbers will be obtained from Boulder County. Planning CommissionerJeff Lipton said the City needs to use the right mix of staff and consultants on the update. A good product needs to be directed by staff. Councilor Dalton was on Planning Commission at the tail-end of the 2005 Comp Plan Update, and he said the consultants drove the last update. He felt the last update didn’t support us that well. If staff handles the update, the City needs to hire people who can handle the routine day-to-day duties of the Planning Department. Mayor Muckle also thoughtthat the consultants tell us what to do. Consultants need to provide the technical information to staff so that staff can make good decisions. Councilor Dalton requested that Planning staff give frequent updates to Council during the update process. Planning Commissioner Jeff Lipton said the 2005 update was frustrating as the Planning Commission did not have much face-to-face time with Council. Conversations are taking place with City staff at the beginning of this update process as compared to the 2005 update. The process of hiring a consultant will be through a Request for Proposal (RFP). Planning Commission would like some historical information on what worked best in 2005 and what didn’t work. City Manager Fleming said that he would prefer City staff take the lead on the update, buton the other hand, hiring a good, experienced consultant can bring creative ideas to City staff they had not previously considered. A consultant can assist staff and be used as needed, but staff does the bulk of the work. Planning Director Russ said he would need to manage everyone’s workload if the update is done in-house.He said he’s already asking the questions that are important to the process. Council Member Keany asked how long will the process take to do it in-house? Director Russ said he estimates completion by December of 2012. Council Member Keany asked if consultants are biased, how does staff filter out their biases? Director Russ said through an open public process judged by the public and Planning Commission. Council Member Yarnell asked if a table could be prepared to show what the costs look like if a consultant is hired to work on the project on an as-need basis?