Planning staff updates commission on CityWorks rollout, SOP study and staffing

Planning Department staff on May 20 updated the Murfreesboro Planning Commission on operational initiatives and long‑range work.

Mr. Newman said the department is conducting a standard operating procedure and workload study with Thrivent Consultants and will run a four‑week time study to capture a full review cycle and better understand staff time allocations. He reported continued work building on the CityWorks go‑live from April 16, noting that some application types (site plans, preliminary plats) now appear differently in packets because of the system transition and that annexation and rezoning workflows have not yet migrated.

Staff described plans to automate public dashboards by pulling data directly from CityWorks, update design guidelines after stakeholder outreach, and recruit for three open positions (principal planner, long‑range planner, and a third engineer). Commissioners thanked staff for the implementation work and noted a joint conceptual workshop and six public hearings scheduled for June 3.

What’s next: Staff will continue CityWorks migration, complete the SOP/time studies, publish updated dashboards as feasible, and return design‑guideline updates at an upcoming workshop.