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Middleton staff report progress on Business Forum audit; education, process mapping prioritized
Summary
City staff reported on an audit of feedback from a recent Middleton Business Forum and outlined next steps including process maps, public education, and a customer feedback tool.
MIDDLETON, July 16 — City staff on Wednesday presented a progress report on the Middleton Business Forum audit, telling the City Council that much of the feedback fell into two themes: education about city processes and clearer, published procedural maps for applicants.
Miss Hobbs, who led the staff report, said staff compiled sticky-note feedback from the business forum, categorized comments and then had five department representatives review the consolidated notes. Participants included the planning and zoning official, the building official, the city engineer, and the public works director. Hobbs said staff would email council the raw notes so members could see the source feedback and staff’s analysis.
Among the “must-dos” the audit flagged, Hobbs said staff found many items already underway. High-priority next steps include developing a public-facing process map for land-use and permitting workflows, creating residential and commercial cost calculators so applicants can estimate permit and construction costs, and improving public education for both developers and design professionals.
Staff also noted that impact fees are set by statute and local analysis: impact fees must be updated on a statutory schedule (every five years) and are developed from Middleton’s capital-improvement plan. Hobbs said the city uses third-party consultants for those updates and has an upcoming consultant presentation for transportation impact fees.
Public-works Director Jason Van Gilder and City Engineer Amy Woodruff also addressed infrastructure funding and the sewer treatment project. Van Gilder said staff continue to explore funding options and that design work is on track; the treatment-plant project will be considered separately in a public hearing later in the meeting.
Council members asked how the city will measure any change in perception among developers. Hobbs proposed a short Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey at the end of permitting processes to gauge whether applicants would recommend doing business in Middleton; results would be used to adjust education and process improvements.
Why it matters: Developers told the council they sometimes find city procedures opaque. Staff’s audit attempts to reconcile that perception with work already underway and to create clearer, measurable customer-facing materials.
What’s next: Staff will distribute the consolidated raw notes to council, build a public process map, develop a cost calculator prototype and draft a feedback survey for pilot testing with applicants.
