The process of figuring out what Lawrence and Douglas County should look like for the next 20 years or more got started at City Hall on Monday.

A new jointly appointed city-county advisory board held its first meeting to discuss how to rewrite and update Horizon 2020, the city and county’s long-range plan that governs everything from area development regulations to environmental issues.

“It is a big and important project for sure,” said Douglas County Commissioner Nancy Thellman, who is a co-chair of the group. “We don’t quite know how big or how important yet. A lot of that will be dictated by our public meetings. That’s where we’ll get a true sense of where our community is and where it wants to be.”

On Monday, the 10 members of the steering committee introduced themselves and began to set some parameters for how they will work on the plan, which is expected to take at least a year. City Commissioner Mike Amyx, who also is a co-chair of the group, said he thinks the group should focus on updating Horizon 2020, rather than starting from scratch.

“I think we’re fortunate to have a comprehensive plan that works very well right now,” Amyx said. “We just need to make sure it can serve us well beyond 2020.”

Thellman said she anticipates the steering committee hosting several town hall-type forums across the county to gather input on a host of issues. The plan, as currently written, creates policies for issues such as where new commercial developments should be located, the protection of prime agricultural land, planning for future parks and open space, strategies for economic development and a host of other topics.

Dates for future town hall meetings haven’t been set yet, but group members said they’ll work hard to reach out to a broad group of community members for input.

“Participation from the public is going to be so important,” Thellman said. “We want to see a lot of new faces and hear from a lot of new voices.”

The steering committee won’t be responsible for approving any changes to Horizon 2020, but rather will make recommendations to the three governing bodies that will be responsible for approving updates to the plan: the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission, the Douglas County Commission and the Lawrence City Commission.

Here’s a look at the other eight members of the committee, who all either live in Lawrence or Douglas County:

• Bill Ackerly, a strategic communications professional who works for the U.S. Army;

• Clay Britton, a Lawrence-Douglas County planning commissioner;

• Rick Doll, superintendents of Lawrence Public Schools;

• John Gascon, a former Seattle architect and gallery owner who recently moved to Lawrence;

• Lisa Harris, a transportation professional and former planning commissioner;

• Kyra Martinez, a former urban planning consultant;

• Stan Rasmussen, a Lawrence-Douglas County planning commissioner;

• Scott Zaremba, an owner of convenience stores and other commercial property in the county.