Town Hall Meetings

Final Report

The new Mayor’s structured outreach should include a series of Town Hall meeting. These meetings should be designed to update the citizens on progress and plans from city hall, to get citizen input on critical subjects, and to discuss specific issues that are important to different sections of our community. Here are some keys to making these meetings successful.

• The Mayor should hold one meeting in each ward, but make each one open to all residents. All of dates for Town Hall Meetings should be released at once, so that people can plan to attend a meeting in an alternate ward if it better suits their schedule.
• Local aldermen, Area Council members, and other local groups should be strongly encouraged to attend and participate.
• Outreach to everyday citizens in the community through a variety of media should also be utilized to ensure broader attendance and better representation.
• Each series of meetings should focus on one or two general topics. In subsequent meetings in the same area, the mayor should begin by discussing what was done as a result of the last series of meetings.
• The output should focus on a city-wide issue. The mayor could offer details on critical decisions he faces or has recently made. He could explain the direction the administration is taking the city or promote a new idea.
• In the first series of Town Hall meetings the discussion might include the possibility of creating new neighborhood area councils or performance management standards as the mayor tries to implement these plans.
• The floor should be opened up to questions, comments, and concerns from residents falling under that Town Hall topic. Community input should be documented so that the mayor can review similarities and differences on the issues between the different areas of the city.
• The mayor and citizens should end by engaging in a discussion of key local issues. Again these should be documented and reviewed.

We also suggested some alternate forms of structured outreach including:

1. Virtual Town Halls through web video - These could follow a “fireside chat” model with output only or use video conferencing so that the mayor can answer citizens’ questions or promote ideas. These could also be saved and posted on the website for future viewing.
2. Conference calls between the mayor and citizens or citizen groups – Similarly to video conferencing, these calls would be easier to set up and allow for easy interaction between the mayor and citizens in an intimate, focused conversation.
3. Office hours – At regularly scheduled times, have an “open door” policy in the mayor’s office where residents can come and speak to the Mayor and possibly his staff face to face. Allowing for this basic, genuine communication reiterates a commitment to openness and community concerns.
4. A mayor’s email list – The mayor’s office should have an email list that receives an e-newsletter, important updates, and routine notices. Residents could sign up for different lists through the city website. These are easily set up and the IT department already has the capability.
5. Regular or issue based column from the mayor in local newspapers or newsletters – This again could work like a “fireside chat,” where the mayor can explain critical choices and city hall decisions. This could be a great opportunity to proactively and get in front of key issues with fairness and transparency.