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On the other hand, the council indicated that prior to requesting public input, there is a need to determine council's level of commitment to the City Hall Complex master planning process and the level of the council's existing agreement on issues relating to the City Hall Complex. While the expansion or replacement of City Hall has been a major project for the council since 2000, membership on the council has changed during this period. The current council has not had an in- depth discussion of the range of values and City policies that formed the basis for the original Downtown Space Plan and that resulted in the council' s 2001 policy statement calling for the replacement of City Hall with one or more new buildings. The council discussion could result in a consensus that one or more policy issues have been resolved, and more clarity on which issues should be submitted to the public in a decision-making context. This would affect the form and content of a subsequent public involvement process. There are two other issues of importance that should be highlighted as they are interrelated--the issues of council consensus and timing. Successful resolution of the issues related to a City Hall Complex will require consensus of the full council. To attain this consensus, the City Hall Complex master planning process needs to be complete in time for the current council to act on the master plan recommendations prior to January 2007. This suggests that the design and implementation of the master planning and public participation process should be complete within the next 15-18 months in order to give the council adequate time to consider next steps and, if voter approval is needed, take decisive action prior to the general election of November 2006. RELATED CITY POLICIES The downtown City space master planning and public participation process relates to the City Council goals of an effective, accountable municipal government, a safe community, and sustainable com- munity growth and change. COUNCIL OPTIONS The task of creating a City Hall Complex master planning process using a mix of City Council input and public involvement could potentially have different levels of involvement by staff, the consultant team, the council, and the public. Accordingly, different levels of participation by these four groups have different cost implications ranging from simple and inexpensive to complex and expensive. Four likely options are summarized below with a fifth option being to do nothing at this time. The first and simplest option would be for staff to take the input already received from the council and design a proposed master planning and public participation process for the City Hall Complex. Staff would present the details of the proposed process to council for review and adoption. Then, a Request for Proposals for consultant services could be issued and the final details of the master planning and public participation process would be finalized. While this approach would need little or no additional funding, staff feels that an approach incorporating outside expertise would have more credibility with both the community and the council. The next simplest option would be for staff to hire a consultant team on the front end in order to assist in the design of the City Hall Complex master planning process. This would provide a broader range of experience in identifying and evaluating the issues that should be considered, especially with the public participation component of the master planning process. Again, staff would then present the details of the proposed process to the council for review and adoption. This option could also include a step for staff to check in with a few representative constituent groups to make sure key issues are L:\CMO\2005 Council Agendas\M050223\S050223B.doc