The Town Council has given its Strategic Planning Advisory Commission (SPAC) a green light to proceed with a comprehensive update of the town Strategic Plan.

The plan was first written in 2005 and adopted in early 2006. It was updated in 2010.

SPAC Chairman Dana Saar outlined the process the commission has proposed for the update at the Nov. 5, council meeting.

Saar presented the council with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis the commission has developed over the past six to eight months.

The commission has taken that information and in cooperation with the Fountain Hills Civic and Cultural Association and its Vision Fountain Hills committee and developed a general survey.

Vision Fountain Hills has identified about 100 residents as stakeholders and leadership as a catalyst to gather input for a more comprehensive survey to be presented to all citizens at a later date.

“We want to engage in a productive dialogue and look forward with less time looking back,” said John Craft with Vision Fountain Hills.

The survey was sent to the stakeholder/leadership group immediately following the meeting when council approval was received.

Over the next six months Vision Fountain Hills will be interacting with citizens through social media and collecting feedback from an additional survey. A Town Hall session has been scheduled for May to develop and refine the ideas further before presenting a final report to the council for consideration and adoption.

Saar said this effort will be quite different from the 2005/06 process. He said thanks to the use of social media there will be very little need for a budget. It should not be necessary to hire a consultant.

Councilman Henry Leger stated one thing he learned from the initial process is a need to know not only what citizens want, but what they are willing to pay for.

“It is encouraging to see the direction the commission is going,” Councilman Dennis Brown said.

Councilman Cecil Yates said he would be interested in a follow up on the 2005 objectives to see what has been accomplished in the past 10 years.