magnus919/agent-skills/absent-residents-responsibilities

Oak Terrace: contact-board and seasonal-guide coordination

For: the fictional 18-household Oak Terrace block Purpose: keep a printed contact board current and offer every household a private way to say whether it received the seasonal guide. Status: draft for one community pilot; no role is operational until the named person explicitly accepts it.

A short promise to residents

Participation is voluntary. Being away, hard to reach, busy, caregiving, disabled, or not responding does not mean a resident has agreed to help, declined to help, or consented to be contacted in a particular way. No one needs to explain why they cannot help.

The public board will show only practical coordination information that a person has agreed to share: the role, an approved contact route, the last update date, and—when useful—the next review date. It will not show an absence reason, diagnosis, household circumstance, or who did not reply.

Residents may:

• opt in to a small role, opt out, or ask for a later/private follow-up;
• choose paper, text, or another mutually agreed contact route when available;
• request an accessible format or other practical adjustment without naming a diagnosis;
• pass, change their mind, or ask for a substitute without giving a reason.

How the map works

Each role has a primary and, where feasible, an independent backup. A person is not a primary or backup merely because they attended, received a note, answered once, or was listed as reachable. A role becomes confirmed only after the person says yes to:

1. the task and its small, defined scope;
2. the time window or frequency;
3. the approved way to contact them about that role; and
4. the backup or escalation arrangement.

“Proposed” means a person may be suitable but has not accepted the role. “Confirmed” means explicit acceptance has been recorded on the private coordination copy. “Unfilled” means no accepted person is available. “Declined” means the person said no; it does not require a reason. “Unknown” means there is not enough information to classify the status.

The private coordination copy should use the fixture’s placeholders only while planning: resident-a, resident-b, resident-c, resident-d, and resident-e. Do not put those placeholders, absence categories, or contact details on the public board.

Responsibility map

This is the starting map from the supplied Oak Terrace fixture. It records what is known without turning it into a promise.

Current resident-state handling

Public board rules

The board is for current coordination, not a census. A dated weekly sheet may contain:

• the date it was posted and the date it should next be reviewed;
• the currently confirmed role route(s), only with the holder’s permission;
• a short note such as “coverage pending” when a role is unfilled;
• a neutral private route for requesting a copy or access adjustment, if one has been confirmed.

It must not contain:

• absence labels or reasons;
• diagnoses, care arrangements, work schedules, or household judgments;
• a list of people who did not respond or did not receive the guide;
• a phone number, text route, or name that its owner has not approved for board use;
• a claim that a role is covered when the primary or backup has not accepted it.

If a resident asks who is responsible and the role is unfilled, say: “That role is currently unfilled. We are inviting a small voluntary commitment; no household is being assumed responsible.”

Resident opt-in card

Use this text on paper or adapt it to an already approved contact channel. A response is private and voluntary.

Oak Terrace coordination check

Would you like to consider one small role for the contact board or seasonal-guide check? You do not need to explain your answer.

I am interested in:

☐ board steward ☐ backup steward ☐ private delivery checker

☐ accessibility liaison ☐ escalation owner ☐ I am only reviewing information

☐ none for now

My preferred approved contact route is:

☐ paper ☐ text ☐ another route agreed privately: __________

My possible time window is: ____________________

I understand that this is an invitation, not an assignment. A role is not confirmed until I explicitly agree to its scope, contact route, and backup/escalation arrangement.

Name or planning label (private): ____________________

Date: __________

What I am accepting now, if anything: ____________________

What still needs to be checked: ____________________

Keep the completed card with the private coordination copy. Share only the minimum approved role route on the board. A blank response, silence, or an attendance record is not a yes.

Worked fictional example — not an Oak Terrace assignment

Jordan writes: “I am interested in backup steward; text is my approved route; I can cover one missed weekly update on weekday afternoons.” Jordan has accepted only the narrow backup task. The private map may mark Jordan proposed until Jordan also confirms the pilot handoff and the board steward’s approved escalation route. The public board must not publish Jordan’s name or text route unless Jordan separately approves that wording. This example does not identify a real resident and does not fill any current Oak Terrace gap.

Private seasonal-guide receipt check

The delivery checker, once confirmed, offers—not requires—a private response from each household. The checker asks only:

“Did your household receive the seasonal guide? You may answer: received; please provide another copy; I need an access adjustment; or I prefer no follow-up.”

The checker records aggregate progress, not a public household list. A useful private record has four counts or status marks: received, copy requested, access adjustment requested, and no response/prefer no follow-up. Do not write down an absence reason, diagnosis, or explanation. Do not treat “no response” as refusal, receipt, or consent.

If a copy is requested, the checker confirms the delivery route before acting. If an access adjustment is requested, the checker passes the practical request to the confirmed accessibility liaison, or tells the resident that the liaison role is not yet filled. No resident is promised a service that Oak Terrace has not confirmed.

Primary, backup, and escalation logic

Use this sequence for every role:

1. Invite: make the same neutral, low-pressure offer to residents who have a legitimate contact route. Do not target people by absence reason.
2. Check willingness: ask for an explicit yes, no, or later. Ask only about the narrow task, time window, approved route, and any adjustment needed to participate.
3. Confirm primary: record the acceptance privately and publish nothing until the person approves the board wording and contact route.
4. Confirm independent backup: seek a different resident with a genuinely workable route. A backup who depends on the same unavailable person, same untested route, or same narrow window is not a reliable backup.
5. Rehearse: test one small action and one missed-action handoff in the pilot. A role that has only been discussed remains proposed.
6. Escalate a gap: if a primary or backup is not confirmed, mark the role unfilled. Invite new opt-ins and, only after an escalation owner and council route are confirmed, use the council path.
7. Recheck: after a missed update, a changed contact route, or a resident’s request to step back, return the role to proposed or unfilled until reaccepted.

No person is responsible for chasing an absent, unknown, or nonresponding household. No resident is responsible for explaining another resident’s absence.

One-round community pilot

This is a bounded pilot, not a seven-session program. One short round is enough to test whether the proposed coordination can reach people and whether anyone is willing to accept a small role. The pilot does not prove that the system works for every household.

Pilot aim

Test four things before treating any role as operational:

• whether the invitation reaches people through the routes they have accepted;
• whether people can understand the difference between reviewing and accepting a role;
• whether a primary can complete one small task and a separate backup can respond to a simulated missed task;
• whether receipt and access requests can be handled privately without exposing reasons or diagnoses.

Preparation

The pilot host prepares: