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CITY OF PARIS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN ApPendix A-CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM PROCESS Capital Facilities Planning Plannina is both process-oriented and production-oriented. The first step is to develop a Comprehensive Plan, a process that typically involves four entities-City staff, the Planning Commission, the public at-large, and the City Council. The Paris Planning Commission (hereafter refened to as the "Planning Commission") has begun the "planning process." The second step is to implement the plan. Implementation tools include the capital improvements program (CIP). Within the context of the Comprehensive Plan many of the community's needs, desires, and goals have been discussed. The capital improvements program (CIP) provides an annual process of identifying and establishing priorities for specific improvements in order to achieve those goals. The capital improvements prob am provides a variety of benefits. A more formal CIP process includes more public involvement, and helps assure fiscal implementation. This section, then, recommends both a process by which a capital improvements program can be developed, as well as a procedure by which projects can be ranked. The Process In order to be effective, a capital improvements program (CIP) must integrate community desires and goals in a formalized process of needs assessment and financial programming. The City of Paris has long followed an informal CII' planning process. The Comprehensive Plan establishes a more expanded process to more formally include the Planning Commission and the general public, along with Department Heads and the City Council to adopt the CIP. The more formal process would include invited participants in an annual workshop to review the needed projects, the goals of the plan and the budget available for capital improvements. The meeting may be made a part of an annual plan update prior to budget adoption. The City Engineer and other staff should facilitate the meeting. The Capital Improvements Program (CIP) For the purposes of the City of Paris C1P, a"capital improvement" is any public expenditure for equipment or infrastructure that is greater than $75,000 and funded from other than an emergency appropriation, such as for relief from natural disasters. In order to be effective, a capital improvements program must integrate community desires and goals in a formalized process of needs assessment and financial programming. A basic process for the City involves the coordination of six groups: • The "Capital Facilities Committee" - The Capital Facilities Committee should be led by the City Engineer and include the following staff: Director of Finance, Project/Civil Service Director, Building Official, Director of Public Works, Director of Public Utilities, Fire Chief, Police Chief and Director of Parks and Recreation. In addition, one City Council member and one Planning Commissioner should be appointed. The committee would be responsible for establishing an inventory of capital needs within their respective areas of concern, undertaking an evaluation of each project request, describing each proposed project in sufficient detail for others to understand, and, as a group, providing a preliminary ranking of each project relative to the funding cycle (1-5 S:\98288\WPC\fma1 repon 2-01.doc 80 BWR