FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The city’s computer system is obsolete and needs to be replaced, according to a report of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee presented to the City Council this week.

Replacement of the city’s AS/400 computer system was the top priority among four “critical issues” the committee outlined in its 10-page report.

“These critical issues are identified as the big things standing in the way of the city departments fulfilling their missions,” said John Gutknecht, committee chairman.

The report also recommended that the city develop management plans for city vehicles, equipment and infrastructure and human resources.

Gutknecht said the steering committee worked with city department heads to define mission statements for each department, and to conduct an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities (SWOT) facing each department.

The list of critical issues was determined based on the results from those SWOT analyses, he said.

“The inadequacy of the (existing computer) system is the single, most often identified weakness in departmental SWOT analyses.” the report stated. “Due to its technological limitations and lack of flexibility, many departments have abandoned use of this obsolete system and developed their own data bases and methods. This has led to a lack of systems integration and a breakdown in interdepartmental communications.”

The report recommended the city direct the Information Technology Department to identify state-of-the-art technology to replace the old system and to estimate the costs to obtain and maintain a new system.

The committee also recommended that once the new system was identified, the City Council should approve its purchase.

“We have talked with every department head,” Gutknecht said. “This is their plan, not ours.”

The report lists detailed recommendations for most city departments in the areas of vehicles, equipment and infrastructure and human resources. The report also lists an additional category of issues regarding safety and liability, oversight of city equipment and inventory control and facilities such as the landfill.

The committee’s report stated that it was not a complete strategic plan, but provided information that could used by the city in developing one.

It stated the following stage of the strategic planning process remained to be done: “Creation of a strategic plan encompassing action plans to establish priorities, required resources and funding, assignment of responsibilities, (and) implementation timeline to effect resolution of defined critical issues.”

During two recent public appearances in the past week, Mayor Tim Kant said he believed that a professional consultant might be required to help the city design its strategic plan.

Hiring a consultant was the original recommendation in October 2007 of the Governmental Structure Committee that initiated the current strategic planning process. But that recommendation was changed last year to suggest that local volunteers could manage the process.

Gutknecht said another stage of the process would be “presenting the work we’ve done to the public.”

In a report presented to the council in July 2008 by a committee appointed by the council last year to recommend how the strategic planning process should be conducted, 10 steps were outlined. That report recommended that a “three-year look-ahead plan” would be developed by May 2009.

“This draft plan goes to the (City) Treasurer by late May so that financial projections and cash projections can be done,” the final report of the Strategic Planning Process Committee stated.

The work of the current Strategic Planning Steering Committee was delayed when the council did not appoint the committee last fall on the schedule recommended by the Process Committee.

The July 2008 report recommended that the draft plan would be discussed in public meetings from July through September this year.

“All citizens and public interest groups will be invited to public forums to critique the plan, offer suggestions, discuss priorities, and so forth,” the 2008 report stated. “The central point of the meetings is to gather public input into the planning process at a point in time when the plan is still just a draft.”

That July report then recommended that a revised draft plan based on those meetings would be prepared by the mayor during October and November, which would be the subject of a public hearing in December conducted by the council. A final revised plan would be prepared by the mayor and adopted by the council in January 2010.

“The same process and timing is repeated again in each following year, but with increasing emphasis on financial projections, and on departmental action plans to implement various parts of the plan,” the 2008 report recommended.

On Monday, the council discussed whether to schedule a work session to determine what additional steps should be taken regarding the strategic planning process at this point but no decision was reached about that.