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10 Chairman Cecil stated at the last meeting with Day and Associates, who prepared the Resource Manual, one of the charges the City Council has given to this Board is to prepare or have prepared a Strategic Plan for presentation to the City Council by May. He stated he feels there are two ways to proceed in the preparation of this Plan, one .of them is for the Board to accomplish the task themselves or the Board can hire someone to assist in the preparation of the Strategic Plan. He opened the meeting for discussion as to the method of accomplishing this task. Board member Curtis Fendley stated he felt like the Board should hire someone to assist in the preparation due to the expertise involved in the task. After discussion with all the board members, it was the consensus of the board that someone should be hired to assist in the preparation of the Strategic Plan. Mr. Cecil passed out a list of four economic development consulting firms. He stated Day & Associates are the consultants who prepared the Resource Manual, and he has told them subject to Board approval they would be given an opportunity to make a proposal to this Board. He asked Mr. Clifford to give information on the Cornerstone Group. Mr. Clifford said this group gave a presentation in September, and helped in passing the sales tax election. Mr. Clifford stated it was his understanding they would like to make a presentation. Mr. Cecil stated he was very impressed with their professionalism and ability. Mr. Cecil stated the City Manager has done some research and provided the other two names listed. He asked Mr. Malone to give information on the other two groups. Mr. Malone stated he had contacted some of the other cities in our area to see if they had utilized consultants, if they were satisfied with the consultants used, and who the consultants were that had been used. He stated he had contacted Mr. Newsom of the Texas Industrial Development Council, Inc., and talked with him regarding cities that were successful, or very active in economic development. He mentioned a number of cities he contacted who had not used consultants. The city of Longview had used the Cornerstone Group, and Chloe Johnson & Associates have done work for McKinney and a number of other small cities. Mr. Malone stated the Pace Group is a new consulting firm with a sub-office in Ft. Worth. The principal person in the Pace Group was with Fantas who has worked with the local Chamber of Commerce. City Attorney Haynes stated he had attended a seminar conducted by the Pace Group at the last Texas Municipal League Meeting and was favorably impressed. City Manager Malone advised the Board there was two methods to utilize in hiring a consultant. One method would be to decide in advance the amount of money the Board feels would be the top limit and ask for proposals as to what these consultants would do for the amount of money. The other method would be to utilize the manual and follow the charge by listing items the Board wishes to have accomplished and put out a request for proposal. Mr. Malone advised this was not an exclusive list, and there are probably some other consultants he is not aware of at this time. Chairman Cecil discussed the next item which was Project Approval Criteria. He stated he felt that whoever they hire to do the Strategic Plan needs to do both jobs as they all tie together. He stated the by-laws reflect the Board is not in a position to approve a project until the Project Approval Criteria have been developed. It was consensus of the Board for the same group to accomplish the Strategic Plan and the Project Approval Criteria.