Welcome! Come to the front door and ring the doorbell! We see our email address as the doorbell to our City.
Email AskEllsworth@ellsworthmaine.gov and tell us what you’d like to know. Please include enough detail for us to understand your question and how we can contact you.
You can also continue to contact City staff through our existing channels, including the website’s Contact Us form, by phone, or in person at City Hall. Ask Ellsworth does not replace those options; it provides another clear place to start.
What happens after you ask? QUESTION → ACKNOWLEDGE → ROUTE → RESEARCH → RESPOND → LEARN
We’ll acknowledge your message, connect it with the appropriate staff member, and follow it through to a response. Some questions can be answered quickly; others will require additional research or coordination from multiple departments and / or outside agencies. We appreciate your patience while we gather accurate information.
Ask Ellsworth is not an emergency reporting service. For an emergency requiring immediate police, fire, or medical assistance, call 911. For an urgent City service issue, use the appropriate City department’s established contact or reporting channel rather than waiting for a response to an Ask Ellsworth email.
This email address will reach four City staff, telling us you have a question. Once we get this email we will go to work getting your question answered.
We see our response as opening our front door!
You will receive an email response from us once you have sent your email. That auto response will provide a list of resources you can use to see if you can find your answer quicker, with information that is already out there … allowing you to get your answer right away.
If you do find what you’re looking for, please zap us a quick note to say you are all set so we don’t continue to work on your request.
Email response
Subject: We received your Ask Ellsworth question
Thank you for contacting Ask Ellsworth. Your message has been received and will be reviewed and directed to the appropriate City staff member.
Some questions can be answered quickly; others may require research, information from multiple departments, or coordination with an outside agency. We want to provide you with accurate and complete information, so some responses may take a little longer. We appreciate your patience while we work to find the answer.
Looking for information? You may find what you need here:
If one of these resources answers your question, simply reply to this email and let us know. Otherwise, no action is needed. We’ll be in touch.
Ask Ellsworth
One question. One starting point. One City working to find the answer.
Looking for information? Many answers and updates are already available through the City’s online resources. These tools can help you find information quickly, stay informed, and connect with the City.
You may find what you need here:
- Our City Website holds information on departments, city services, government services, our news feed and much more.
City website: Our Website
- Looking for a City meeting? Find upcoming City Council, board, commission, and committee meetings on the City’s official schedule.
City meetings: City Schedule
- Looking for something happening around Ellsworth? Explore community events and activities on our Things to Do calendar.
Community events: Things to Do in Ellsworth
- Already on Facebook? Follow the City’s official page for news, announcements, reminders, and links to additional information.
City news and updates: City of Ellsworth Facebook
- Want City and Public Works alerts (AKA Dauapler)? Register for Ellsworth Alerts to receive timely information about City services, road and traffic impacts, Public Works activity, and other issues affecting residents. Providing your civic address helps the City send more targeted alerts when an issue affects a particular area. You can add home and work addresses if you’d like!
City & Public Works alerts: Sign up for Ellsworth Alerts
- Looking for City public records? Some questions are requests for public records. Our dedicated Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) page explains how to request records and provides information about Maine’s public records law.
Public records: Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) Requests
- Want City news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for website email notifications. Visit the City homepage, scroll to the bottom, select the topics that interest you (pick as many as you want), and click Sign Up.
City website email updates: Website
Click the link below to see the process for Ask Ellsworth.
The Plan – what is Ask Ellsworth and why is it important
Ask Ellsworth is more than the name of an email address. It will become the front door for residents’ questions.
We welcome questions. We answer them. We learn from them. And when one person asks, we look for opportunities to share the answer with everyone.
Purpose: The City of Ellsworth is committed to making it easy for residents to ask questions, receive accurate information, and better understand how their local government works.
Goal: Our goal is to make sure questions are heard, acknowledged, directed to the right person, and followed through to an answer. Some questions can be answered immediately; others require research, input from multiple departments, or information from outside agencies and partners. City staff may not always have the answer in the moment, but we will work to find it, or help connect residents with the appropriate source.
Residents should not have to understand the City’s organizational structure to know where to ask a question or find information. Our goal is to provide clear, consistent ways to connect with the City and help residents become familiar with the resources already available to them.
This process works best when we approach one another with patience, respect, and an understanding that answers sometimes take time. We ask residents to allow staff the time needed to gather accurate information, and we ask staff to keep residents informed and close the loop through this process when an answer is available.
Every question gives us an opportunity to listen. If one resident is wondering about something, chances are others may be wondering too. As Ask Ellsworth develops, we’ll look for opportunities to share answers more broadly; this could be through updates to existing webpages, frequently asked questions, City news stories, social media, and other public information.
Our goal is not simply to answer a question once. It’s to make useful information easier for everyone to find.
Using the Right Communication Tool: Ask Ellsworth is part of a larger City communication system.
The City uses multiple communication channels, and each
serves a different purpose. Part of the Ask Ellsworth initiative will be helping residents understand not only how and where to ask a question, but also where they can already find information or sign up to receive it.
The City’s website and City Schedule serve as the central resources for official meeting information. With numerous City Council, board, commission and committee meetings throughout the year (including special or emergency meetings) posting every individual meeting to Facebook would make the City’s social media feed difficult to navigate and could crowd out road updates, emergency information, community news, programs and other content residents also rely on.
Instead, Communications will use Facebook strategically to direct residents to the City’s established resources, including periodic reminders encouraging residents to bookmark the City Schedule and subscribe to website notifications.
Important: emergencies and urgent service issues
Ask Ellsworth is not an emergency reporting service.
For an emergency requiring immediate police, fire, or medical assistance, call 911.
For an urgent City service issue, use the appropriate City department’s established contact or reporting channel rather than waiting for a response to an Ask Ellsworth email.
