Rules committee reviews Formstack form to route constituent emails by district

The Anchorage Rules Committee on May 14 heard a staff proposal to use the municipality’s existing Formstack account to route constituent emails to district assembly members while preserving the general assembly@ email address for in‑chambers or quick contact use.

Jasmine, a staff member presenting the mockup, said the proposed form would let constituents pick their district, optionally provide contact information, and receive an automated confirmation. “This form once filled out ... will send out an email to both the constituent and the assembly members and it will go to all members, but it will emphasize which district it’s for,” she said.

Supporters said routing messages by district could reduce the volume of undifferentiated emails each member receives. Staff noted several technical features that are feasible now: putting the district first in subject lines, making the last‑name field optional, adding a more personable auto‑response and including Google Translate for non‑English submissions. Jasmine said IT can implement the requested changes next week and that the form can be migrated to future municipal web pages.

Some members urged caution about losing the existing single assembly address (assembly@muni.org). Claire of legislative services said the assembly address is widely used for materials handed out in chambers and suggested keeping it on printed materials while actively encouraging Formstack for constituent outreach. A member summarized the tradeoff: keeping the single address makes quick outreach simple but reduces the incentive for constituents to identify a relevant district, while removing it could force better targeting but would require an outreach campaign to change public behavior.

Staff said the Formstack route would still send copies to all members so that no message is missed during the transition, and suggested members could set inbox rules so district messages land in a dedicated folder. Members also asked staff to check whether the form can accept photo attachments and to make the district finder more prominent (an image or clearer link to the GIS map was suggested) to improve usability.

The committee did not take a formal vote. Staff asked members to send edits and indicated a revised Formstack mockup would return to members for review before any decision to change public contact methods.