A park system master plan is designed to work in collaboration with the citizens of Joplin to fully understand their vision of the parks as they should exist 10 years from now. That vision will be accomplished by answering three questions:

• Where are we now?
• Where would we like to go with our parks?
• How do we get there?

To answer question #1, to understand where we are now, we will conduct a facility inventory to take a "snapshot" at this moment in time of the exisitng condition of the facilities. The facilities will be evaluated by a landscape architect who is trained to make such evaluations.

To answer question #2 and determine where we want to go with our parks in the next ten years, we will provide public meetings, perform individual interviews with users and supporters, offer a planning charrette (workshop), and conduct a statistically valid citizen survey.

To answer question #3 and determine how we get there, the consultant will work with a citizens steering committee to develop action strategies that will be targeted to meet those citizen expectations that we learned in the process defined in question #2. The action strategies will be presented to the citizens steering committee, public meetings, park and recreation board and city council.