Citizen contacting of municipal officials: Choosing between appointed administrators and elected leaders

Although citizen-initiated contacting of municipal bureaucrats has been the subject of extensive research over the past quarter century, there has bee n relatively little research on the contacting of municipal elected officia ls or on why citizens might contact elected officials instead of appointed administrators. This research explores that question by using survey data o n citizen-initiated contacts with various elected officials and appointed a dministrators in Atlanta, Georgia. The findings suggest a several-part answ er: First, citizens-in Atlanta anyway-usually prefer to contact city depart ments directly rather than through their elected officials, presumably beca use most contacts involve concerns about municipal services that a departme nt must eventually address. Second, citizens contact both departments and e lected officials for many of the same reasons; the most prominent reason is perceived problems with services. Third, the contacting of elected officia ls appears to be influenced by frustration with the bureaucracy (i. e., dis satisfaction with bureaucratic helpfulness when the bureaucracy is contacte d) and also by ignorance of the bureaucracy (i. e., not knowing who to cont act there). We conclude this article with a discussion of the possible impl ications of the findings for public administrators.