On a pleasant Saturday morning, the community room at Gilbert Town Hall felt more like an open-house living room than a government venue.
Residents stepped in carrying folders, paperwork and worries about their rising utility bills — and instead of walking up to a podium for a three-minute speech, they found council members, senior staff, billing specialists, water-conservation experts and even the town’s meter experts waiting for personal conversations.
It was, by nearly anyone’s measure, an unusual lineup. Residents anywhere rarely get so much of the town’s leadership gathered in one place expressly to listen to their concerns face-to-face.
