Coppell staff says consultant Barry Dunn will lead Vision 2040 refresh; agreement placed on consent

Tracy Leach, a city staff member, told the Coppell City Council during its Feb. 25 work session that the administration had reached an agreement with Barry Dunn to provide facilitation services for a refresh of the Vision 2040 strategic plan.

Leach said the consultant’s scope includes two objectives: (1) document and share what the city and community have accomplished under the plan’s first five years, and (2) run public engagement to test whether the plan still reflects current community priorities. She described planned engagement formats as one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders, small pop-up events, larger community forums and an online platform called Social Pinpoint that the city used during its community experiences master plan work.

The city will use an executive committee model similar to the one used for the original plan; Leach said the staff intends to integrate the council “in a more intentional way” than during the previous process so councilmembers better understand engagement results. She described the procurement process: an RFP produced four proposals, the top two were interviewed and the selection committee unanimously recommended Barry Dunn based on proposed methodology and team.

Council discussion focused on the choice of a different firm than the one that did the original plan (FutureIQ), the consultant’s proposed engagement methods and a travel‑cost estimate. Councilmember Kevin (last name not specified in the record) asked whether FutureIQ had submitted a proposal; Leach confirmed it had. Another member asked about an $8,000 travel estimate noted in the materials and urged that staff limit travel by clustering engagements; Leach said the team would manage travel through scheduling. Leach also assured council that scoring among the four proposers was close and that any of the firms would have been competent.

Because the agreement was included among items A–D on the consent agenda during the regular session, the council approved it as part of that motion. The consent motion to approve items A–D was moved by Councilmember Walker, seconded by Councilmember Hill and carried with Walker, Carroll, Nevills, Prem Kumar and Matthew Hill recorded in favor.

If implemented, the engagement will include outreach to homeowner associations, churches, civic groups, schools, youth and seniors and will collect recommendations from the consultant on how closely community priorities align with the plan’s seven current pillars.

The item will move forward to contract execution and public engagement at the schedule and terms described in the consultant scope. Specific dates for public events, total contract price and a firm travel cap were not specified in the meeting record.