On January 14, 2014, the Council unanimously adopted the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 document, and called for a vote of Flagstaff residents to ratify the Plan at an election to be held on May 20^th.
 
Consistent with the City’s adopted Public Participation Policy, which is based on the International Association of Public Participation’s spectrum of public participation (Inform, Involve, Consult, Collaborate, and Empower), the approach taken with this outreach effort is to “INFORM to EMPOWER”, so that when Flagstaff residents vote on the Regional Plan in May, they will have the information necessary  to make an informed decision.
 
The emphasis of staff’s outreach is therefore, to be factual in describing the Plan as adopted by the Council last month, and for staff via previously established talking points, to be neutral and without opinion on, for example, whether a resident should vote in support of the Plan or not. Stated another way, staff will seek to educate on the Regional Plan, not advocate for the Plan. This is consistent with ARS § 9-500.14 which establishes clear limitations on the use of city resources or employees to influence elections.
 
The attached document, “Thinking About Public Engagement/Outreach – Regional Plan Post Adoption”, includes numerous ideas and strategies developed by staff to inform Flagstaff residents on the Regional Plan. Some observations and explanations of components of this document are highlighted below:
 

• Time line: In February staff has spent time developing the outreach plan, confirming schedules and contacts with community organizations and stakeholders, and generally preparing for the work to come. Initial outreach will continue through March, with the most intensive efforts occurring in mid-April prior to the ballot being mailed to voters and mid-May prior to the election deadline on May 20, 2014.
• Staff will be developing a simple PowerPoint presentation (5 – 7 minutes in length) with key talking points for use in all meetings with stakeholder groups and community organizations so that a consistent message will be presented by the various City staff assisting with these presentations.
• An educational meeting open to the public will be scheduled at City Hall in the Council Chambers in mid-April to inform residents of the Regional Plan. This meeting will be recorded and posted on the Regional Plan website so that others can view it. A second meeting may be scheduled in early May.
• During the Zoning Code update process, staff was successful in working with Harkins Theatres to place a community service announcement in the slide presentation shown before all movies in the theatre. As so many people will be exposed to this slide, staff will be working with Harkins Theatres to once again display an announcement informing where to get information on the plan and key election dates.
• Comprehensive planning staff will be working with City staff to help them to understand the Regional Plan and how it should be used and applied. Staff will also be working with the City Manager and City Clerk to include in the Agenda Quick templates for staff summaries an appropriate drop-down box so that applicable Regional Plan goals and policies can be references in the staff summary. This outreach will commence in March and, assuming the Plan is ratified in May, will be ongoing thereafter as comprehensive planning staff will be a resource for all other City staff. 

 
CONCLUSION
At the February 25, 2014 work session, staff will present the proposed approach to informing Flagstaff residents of the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 prior to the May 20^th vote on the Plan. All ideas and suggestions from the Council to improve or expand the proposed approach to educating Flagstaff resident’s understanding of the Flagstaff Regional Plan 2030 prior to the May 20^th vote on the Plan are welcomed.