Acknowledgments

This volume was a labor of love. Municipal strategic planning is a process in which I have been engaged throughout the United States and the world for more than thirty years. I have been a practitioner, a lecturer, a professor, and a consultant on the subject. And every time I get involved in a community, I learn a lot of new things about strategic planning. Every situation and every community is different. The issues are different, the stakeholders are different, and, hence, the process is different. This book is a guide. It requires exceptional professionals and active citizens to conduct strategic planning exercises successfully in their communities.

In recognition of the need for strength in numbers and a diversity of perspectives, I asked a number of public officials from across the United States to serve as an advisory committee in the conduct of this research and the writing of this book. Not only was their collective counsel invaluable, it also directed me to include concepts and issues that greatly strengthened the product and make it a far greater tool for local government leaders.

Although I have met some of these exceptional men and women only through telephone conversations and e-mail exchanges, they feel like friends. Moreover, they personify the exceptional qualities and capabilities of today’s officials in America’s cities, towns, and counties.

Jane Bais DiSessa, city manager, Berkley, Michigan

Michael Freeman, regional partner, HDR, Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado

Richard Kirkwood, city manager, Woodland, California

Robert A. Stalzer, deputy county executive for planning and development, Fairfax County, Virginia

Susan Thorpe, former city manager, Rowlett, Texas

Amy Vansen, city planner, Berkley, Michigan

Gerald L. Gordon, Ph.D.
May 2005