Constituent Communications

This post builds on the previous one. Besides being useful for communications of statewide associations, I would suggest to you that websites and e-mail are also highly effective and often expected and preferred means of communication for your voters and constituents. I remember the first time I saw a notice about a neighborhood association website, I found it ironic. Why go on the Internet to communicate with the people who live down the street? But more and more, our citizens are communicating with distant relatives and sharing pictures of grandkids through e-mail. Churches and community groups use e-mail and websites to provide information about activities and events. Some people expect and often prefer to go to a website for information rather than calling an office to get the information they need.

I know of at least one county in Tennessee where some of the commissioners are using websites very effectively to communicate with their constituents. Blount County Commissioners Wendy Pitts Reeves and Mike Walker each have blogs (a shortened term for "web - log") where they post information about their work as county commissioners. Wendy set hers up in 2006 when she was first running for the commission and she has used it regularly ever since to interact with her electorate. You can find her website at pittsreeves.blogspot.com. Mike started his in August of this year at commissionerwalker.blogspot.com. I strongly encourage you to check these sites out. The commissioners regularly post information about hearings and meetings in the county. The websites give them the opportunity to express their opinions or explain their positions to consitituents and also to hear comments and concerns back from the voters of their districts. To me, this is a very promising means of increasing voter awareness and citizen involvement with their government. Too many of our people feel uninformed or disenfranchized with their government. Giving them a resource to learn from and communicate readily with their elected representatives helps restore that relationship.

Sites like Wendy's and Mike's (and this one) may be created quickly and hosted for free through on-line hosting services. While they require a little bit of familiarity with using a computer, the hosting sites have sample templates available that let you select a basic format and get a site up and going in a short space of time. There are standard forms and easy instructions for writing and editing content for your posts. If you do take a stab at creating a site of your own, let me know. I'd be happy to link to it here and help publicize your site and the good work you are doing for your community.

Communication in the Modern Era

In the coming weeks, I will be sending a letter to chairs of county commissions across the state. My desire is for each county (or at least each county that does not already have a member on the board of directors of TCCA) to designate a contact person for association communications. Preferably the designees will have an e-mail account that is checked regularly where they can receive communications from the association. In the modern era of legislative work, the time frames are all compressed. It is essential to the effectiveness of our organization for me to be able to quickly get information about legislative developments to our membership. My hope is that the contact person for each county can receive an e-mail and then disseminate the information to the other commissioners in the county. This will not only keep commissioners better informed, but will help our association communicate with State Representatives and Senators in each county about the issues affecting local government. If you are interested in serving in such capacity, contact the chair of your commission or contact my office. Unfortunately, with over 1600 members, it is cost prohibitive for me to regularly send hard copy mailings to the entire membership. To the extent we can utilize electronic communication, we can share much more information for virtually no additional cost.

Also, this website will hopefully serve as a place where commissioners can check regularly for information about the activities at the General Assembly. If you are reading this site and finding it useful and informative, encourage your fellow commissioners to check it out as well or feel free to print out and share content from the site.