If you are asking for support, especially if it includes funding, present your position with facts/evidence-based analysis, comparisons to similar or neighboring communities, or anything else you can give the Council/Selectboard to help them understand the nature and/or value of the request. 

Present budget requests with information that Council/Selectboard can employ to “sell” your request to the public. Elected bodies assemble budgets, but voters decide whether to pass budgets and the elected officials need your help to be able to answer questions and stand by their recommendations.

Consider that most of the time, elected officials do not take municipal business personally—they use their official meeting time to conduct transactions such as making official statements/resolutions/proclamations, voting on recommended policy or ordinance language, or appropriating funds. If you bring personal conflict or grievances to the meeting, the conversation can quickly (and permanently) become about that conflict and not about the request you want to make. Never refer to a Council/Selectboard as “you people” or speak contemptuously, accusingly, or condescendingly to them. If you are unable to maintain this level of patience/composure, consider asking someone else to represent your position on your behalf or on behalf of your group.

If you feel an elected body doesn’t understand your proposal, consider ways to show them or other ways that you can try to convey information / make your point.

Consider that given the stipends that most Council/ Selectboard members receive, they are practically volunteers at $5/hr or less for the time they put in.

To build relationships with local government officials, invite them (including the municipal Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to your organization’s or group’s meetings or events.

Remember that the CAO works for the elected body, not the other way around, and not for individual residents or for individual elected officials.

Saying anything along the lines of “I am a taxpayer, you work for me” to any municipal employee is misguided, potentially hurtful, and unproductive. If you have a concern or issue with the delivery of municipal government services, contact your elected officials or the municipal CAO, or if it’s an urgent matter try to find the department head or supervisor on site.