Until now, members of Congress seem to have had a monopoly on using the popular telephone town hall service. But that is all changing now and the technology is finding a home with state and local officials as well, and even non-profit organizations interesting in reaching out to their members. County supervisors, county executives, state legislators, and city mayors and other elected officials such as city county members, are finding that this service is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to speak directly to their constituencies.
The concept is stunningly simple and brilliant -- a local official can start a town hall meeting from his or her office or home. The system automatically dials tens of thousands of phone numbers, inviting people to opt-into the teleconference. (If they aren't interested in joining, they can just hang up.) Once an invited person opts-in, they are placed into the conference call and can listen to the official or leader from the comfort of their home. No scheduling, no event planning, no trying to get people out of their homes to attend a physical town hall setting. The beauty if that everyone can stay right where they are, and enjoy all the benefits of hearing directly from their elected officials or organizational leaders. No one has to spend time, energy, gas, or even fight the weather to listen in and/or participate in the virtual town hall meeting by asking questions or taking surveys.
State and county officials have large districts and telephone town hall services can have a significant impact on improving name recognition, and more importantly, voter approval ratings. Since the service allows you to conduct Question and Answer sessions (in a controlled environment) and conduct surveys at the same time, elected officials have a new way to conduct outreach and keep closer tabs on what their constituents are thinking.
You can get much more information here for telephone town hall services.