• 86 questions
  • Checked October 2026

Questions to Ask Your Local Mayor

A dozen questions for the mayor about the job, ready to print with room for every answer.

Questions to Ask Your Local Mayor

MayorAsked byDate

  1. Write the mayor's name and the date at the top.
  2. Ask each question aloud and write the answer down as it is said.
  3. Skip any question. The mayor may pass on any line.
  4. On a class visit, give each child one question to ask.
Show all 20
  1. What can you decide alone, and what needs the council?
  2. What do people ask the mayor for most often?
  3. What do you do when two neighbors want opposite things?
  4. Which request do you most hate turning down?
  5. Who do you work with most closely every day?
  6. What did nobody warn you about before you became mayor?
  7. What should people bring to the mayor that they rarely do?
  8. What do people think a mayor can do that you cannot?
  9. How is being mayor different from what you pictured?
  10. What would you tell a young person who wants to be mayor one day?
  11. How do you keep track of every promise you make in a day?
  12. What did you do before you were mayor, and does it still help?

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All 86 questions

The job 20

  • How do you keep track of every promise you make in a day? A notebook in my coat pocket and a patient assistant.
  • How is being mayor different from what you pictured? Fewer speeches, more sidewalks.
  • What can you decide alone, and what needs the council? In our town I run the meeting and the council votes.
  • What did nobody warn you about before you became mayor? How many people stop me in the grocery store.
  • What did you do before you were mayor, and does it still help? I ran a hardware store. I still know who fixes what.
  • What do people ask the mayor for most often? A stop sign, a streetlight, or a word with a neighbor.
  • What do people think a mayor can do that you cannot? Fix a pothole myself. I have asked to borrow the shovel.
  • What do you do when two neighbors want opposite things? Sit them at the same table and bring coffee.
  • What does a mayor do on an ordinary Tuesday? Meetings until noon, then a ribbon to cut and a pothole to look at.
  • What does the town expect of its mayor that is written down nowhere? To turn up at every bake sale.
  • What does your office look like, and what is on the desk? A map of town, a jar of pencils and too many folders.
  • What part of being mayor would you never give up? Opening day at the summer pool.
  • What should people bring to the mayor that they rarely do? An offer to help. We always need volunteers.
  • What would you tell a young person who wants to be mayor one day? Join one committee and show up every time.
  • Which do you enjoy most: a ribbon cutting, a parade or a school visit? School visits. The questions are the hardest and the best.
  • Which do you use most as mayor: listening, speaking or adding up? Listening. Then adding up.
  • Which part of the job takes the most time that nobody sees? Reading. Every vote comes with a thick folder.
  • Which request do you most hate turning down? A good idea the budget cannot hold.
  • Who do you work with most closely every day? The town clerk, who knows where everything is kept.
  • Who was the first person to call you Mayor, and how did it feel? My neighbor, over the fence. I looked behind me.

A day at city hall 13

  • How do you get ready for a night when the whole town wants to speak? I read every letter first and bring water.
  • How long was the longest meeting you have ever chaired? Past midnight. We ordered pizza at ten.
  • What do you do when the last meeting of the day is over? Walk home the long way and look at the streets.
  • What do you sign most often? Proclamations, thank-you letters and a great many forms.
  • What does a council meeting look like from your seat? A horseshoe of desks, a clock and a full agenda.
  • What hangs on the wall of the council room? A portrait of every mayor, and one empty hook.
  • What happens at city hall that would surprise a visitor? Weddings. There are two most Fridays.
  • What is the oldest thing in the building? A leather book of minutes with handwriting like lace.
  • What is waiting on your desk when you walk in each morning? The overnight report and a cup of coffee.
  • Where in city hall do people line up, and for what? The permit counter, every spring.
  • Which part of city hall is worth a visit on an open day? The clock tower. You can see the whole town.
  • Who has the tidiest desk at city hall, and who has the worst? The clerk's is spotless. Mine is not.
  • Who works at city hall that the public rarely meets? The clerk who keeps every record back to the first one.

Streets, parks and services 14

  • How do you find out that a streetlight is out? Someone calls, or I spot it on my walk home.
  • How does a new playground get built, from idea to opening? A petition, a plan, a vote, then a summer of digging.
  • How many miles of street does the town look after? About ninety. I have driven every one.
  • What does the town do with all the leaves every fall? They become compost that anyone can collect in spring.
  • What happens in town on the night of a big snowstorm? The plows go out before midnight, main roads first.
  • What happens to the town's recycling once it is collected? It goes to a sorting plant two towns over.
  • What work does the town do at night while everyone sleeps? Street sweeping, and plowing in winter.
  • What would you add to the town if money were no object? A footbridge over the river.
  • Where does the town's water come from? A reservoir in the hills above us.
  • Which park do you visit most, and what do you do there? The one with the duck pond. I walk laps and think.
  • Which park, pool or library project are you proudest of? New lights at the ball field, so games can run late.
  • Which town service do people forget about until it stops? Storm drains.
  • Who decides which street gets repaired first? The road crew ranks them, and the council sets the budget.
  • Who looks after the trees along the streets? A crew of three and one very old truck.

How a decision is made 12

  • How can anyone, even a kid, bring an idea to the mayor? Write a letter. I read all of them.
  • How do you decide when both sides have a good point? I ask which choice we could undo if we turn out to be wrong.
  • How do you explain a decision to someone who is unhappy with it? In person, with the numbers, and without hurrying.
  • How does an idea from one resident become a town rule? A letter, a committee, a public hearing, then a vote.
  • How does the town decide what to spend its money on each year? Departments ask, the council trims, and the public weighs in.
  • What did the council talk you out of? A one-way street. The shop owners were right.
  • What do you do before a vote you are unsure about? Call three people who disagree with each other.
  • What happens when the council votes against something you wanted? It is their call. I shake hands and move on.
  • What small decision made a bigger difference than you expected? Benches at the bus stops.
  • Which decision took the longest to make? Where to put the new bus stop. Two years.
  • Who gets to speak at a council meeting, and for how long? Anyone who signs up. Three minutes each.
  • Whose advice do you ask for first? The department head who will have to do the work.

The town itself 13

  • What do people from here have in common? They wave at every car, known or not.
  • What do you hope a child growing up here remembers? That they could walk to the library by themselves.
  • What does this town do better than anywhere nearby? The summer parade. Every tractor is in it.
  • What is in town now that was not here when you became mayor? A bike lane, a dog park and a second bakery.
  • What is the oldest building in town, and what was it first? The feed store. It is a bookshop now.
  • What is the story behind the town's name? A ferry crossing that closed before anyone here was born.
  • What is the town's best-kept secret? Free concerts in the park on Thursdays.
  • What would you show a visitor who had only one hour here? Main Street, the bakery, then the bridge.
  • Where is the best view in town? The hill by the water tower, at sunset.
  • Which corner of town do you keep to yourself? The bench behind the old mill, by the water.
  • Which sound would you miss most if the town lost it? The noon whistle.
  • Which story about the town's past do you love to tell? The winter the river froze and everyone skated to work.
  • Which town tradition do you look forward to all year? The lantern walk on the first cold night.

For a class visit 14

  • Are you the boss of the whole town? No. The council votes, and I work for everyone who lives here.
  • Can kids come to a council meeting? Yes. Everyone is welcome, and you can sit in the front.
  • Did you want to be mayor when you were a kid? No. I wanted to drive the snowplow.
  • Do you get to ride in the parade? Every year, in the back of a pickup, waving.
  • Do you have a gavel, and can we hear it? Yes. One tap opens the meeting.
  • Do you have a key to the city? A big wooden one. It opens nothing.
  • Do you have to wear fancy clothes every day? Only for ceremonies. Most days, a sweater.
  • Do you know everybody's name? Not yet. I am working on it.
  • How can a kid help the town? Pick up one piece of litter a day and be kind at the park.
  • How many people live in our town? About eight thousand, and I have met a lot of them.
  • What do you do when it snows a lot? I check that the plows are out, then I shovel my own steps.
  • What is the best thing about being mayor? Visiting classrooms like this one.
  • What would you build for kids if you could build anything? A splash pad next to the library.
  • Who fixes the swings when they break? The parks crew. Ask a grown-up to call city hall.

How it works

These questions to ask your local mayor start with the job: what a Tuesday holds, what the council decides. None asks about a party or an election. Five more groups cover city hall, services, decisions, the town, a class visit.

Read the full guide

20 questions to ask a mayor

The job holds exactly twenty good questions to ask a mayor about his or her job, and the sheet opens on twelve of them. Show all 20 lists the whole group. Each one is about the work: what the mayor decides alone, who works beside the mayor, what people ask for most.

Questions to ask a mayor for kids

For a class visit is written in a child's voice: whether the mayor is the boss of the whole town, who fixes the swings, whether there is a key to the city. The example answers describe an invented town; on paper they sit on a sheet of their own.

Questions and answers

What are the best questions to ask a mayor?

Ones only this mayor can answer: what nobody warned you about before you became mayor, which request you most hate turning down, what the town expects of its mayor that is written down nowhere. All three are in The job.

What are 5 questions to ask your mayor?

What does a mayor do on an ordinary Tuesday? What can you decide alone, and what needs the council? Who decides which street gets repaired first? Which town tradition do you look forward to all year? How can a kid help the town?

What are 10 questions to ask a mayor?

The five above, then five from city hall and the town: what is waiting on the desk each morning, what a council meeting looks like from the mayor's seat, what gets signed most often, the longest meeting, the best view in town.

What does a mayor do?

A mayor is, in many countries, the top official of a city or town government. The powers differ from place to place: some mayors run the government, some chair the council, some have a ceremonial role. So the sheet asks what this mayor decides.

Does the sheet ask about politics?

No. No question names a party, an election, a campaign or an issue in the news, and none asks what a mayor earns. Every question is about the job, city hall, town services or the town itself.

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