Overview

A second critical task at the beginning of the planning process is to assemble a planning team consisting of representatives from across the community. For multi-jurisdiction plans, the team should include representatives from each jurisdiction. The planning team members should have the expertise to develop the plan, and their organizations should have the authority to implement the mitigation strategy developed through the planning process. This will be the core group of people responsible for developing and reviewing drafts of the plan, creating the mitigation strategy, and submitting the final plan for local adoption. Task 2 describes how to identify potential planning team members, communicate the importance of their participation, and kick off the planning process.

Task 2 Requirements

Element A1

The plan must document how it was prepared and who was involved in the planning process for each jurisdiction. This must include the schedule or timeframe and activities that made up the plan’s development.

Element A2

The plan must identify all planning team members and stakeholders who were involved or given an opportunity to be involved in the planning process, including the agency/organization and the person’s position or title within the agency.

This task builds on and can overlap with Task 1′s identification of local leadership. For Task 2, some of the strongest mitigation plans:

Involved and listed a wide range of stakeholders and documented why they were included
Clearly identified who led the planning process
Used a wide range of methods to involve the public in the planning process
Had a well organized and well documented multi-jursisdictional planning team
Included a clear mission and vision statement that guide the plan
Reviewed their community’s previous plan
Clearly defined and documented the planning team’s responsibilities

Each of these practices would strengthen your community’s plan and planning process.