What We Are Asking Local Officials This Autumn

We are starting a second round of research conversations with local officials and their staff. Before we send the first message, here are the questions.

The first round, between June and August 2026, established that the problem is real. Officials hear from residents constantly and cannot say who they are not hearing from. What it did not establish is whether anyone would use a tool to fix that. This round is for that.

The questions

• When you need to know what your district thinks about something, who in the office pulls that together, and how?
• What do you wish you knew about the people you represent that you typically do not?
• What do meetings, email, surveys and events fail to tell you?
• If your office tried a new tool for this, who would have to approve it, and what usually stops it?
• What would have to be true four weeks in for you to keep using it rather than quietly stopping?

Why publish them

An official deciding whether to give us half an hour should be able to see exactly what they are agreeing to. And a question set written down in public is harder to quietly reshape later into one that produces the answer we wanted.

Who we are looking for

Elected officials and the staff who run engagement, particularly in offices without someone whose job is making sense of what residents are saying. If your office already has that person and that habit, you are probably well served, and we would rather hear that from you than take up a slot.

If that sounds like your office, or one you work with, please get in touch.