This was an expected result as well as the respondents that stated that one of the major ways for citizens to be engaged with their government is through council meetings, 94% of respondents agreed. This is valuable information because these facts show that when looking at citizen engagement it cannot be relied on citizens getting involved by their own free will, but how are elected officials or the chief appointed official attempting engage with their citizens.
In looking at elected officials and the chief appointed official research has shown that this may be a problem. The problem lies in the fact that chief appointed officials or administrators may view citizen engagement as problem that may inhibit compromise. A random sample was taken of 221 small to midsize municipalities in Minnesota and Michigan found out that local government administers viewpoint can have a large impact on what is perceived as citizen