Happenings

NHMA Mourns the Passing of NHMA Board of Director, Bill Duschatko

Bill Duschatko, who has served on NHMA”s board of directors since November 2021, died suddenly on June 14, 2022 in Manchester. Bill has served on the NHMA’s Board since November 2021. Bill was a successful entrepeur with a varity of business and financial interests. He graduated from Berskshire School and went on to earn degrees from Dartmouth College and Tuck Business School.

Bill will be remembered for his endless dedication to the Town of Bedford. Bill was truly passionate about serving the Bedford community, serving on the Town Council, Planning Board, Water & Sewer Advisory Committee, Telecommunications Subcommittee, and the Facilities Subcommittee. He was also a member of the Southern NH Planning Commission. We will remember Bill as a caring, knowledgeable man, and he always treated people as he wanted to be treated. Go to the Resources and Publications section on NHMA’s website (www.nhmunicipal.org) to download your 2023 Important Date Calendars which detail important dates and deadlines for March and May traditional meetings and March, April and May SB2 meetings, as well as a general calendar.

2022 Important Dates General Calendar

2023 Important Dates General Calendar

2023 Important Dates - SB2 March Town Meeting

2023 Important Dates - SB2 April Town Meeting

2023 Important Dates - SB2 May Town Meeting

2023 Important Dates - Traditional March Town Meeting

2023 Important Dates - Traditional May Town Meeting

Important Date Calendars Now Available

Please stay tuned for a downloadable iCal Calendar that will be available soon!

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PORTSMOUTH, NH | MANCHESTER, NH | PORTLAND, ME

HAPPENINGS from page 5

Statewide Partnership Develops New Hampshire Environmental Health Resources Guide for Local Stakeholders - Free Training Resources Available Too!

New Hampshire’s APPLETREE Program – run jointly between New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and Department of Health and Human Services (NH DHHS) - teamed up with the Dartmouth Cancer Center’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) team to develop training resources to support local leaders who respond to community environmental health concerns.

The team collaborated with municipal, legislative, and healthcare stakeholders to better understand types of concerns heard from local communities in order to inform the development of resources that could be helpful to them. Three training topic areas were identified, and a table of resources titled: New Hampshire Environmental Health Guide (NH-EHG) was developed. This guide is designed to help legislators, city and town health officers, municipal officials, administrators, and other stakeholders find the appropriate State resource or agency quickly to address environmental concerns raised by members of their community.

The free trainings are available online via the New Hampshire APPLETREE webpage at https://www.des.nh.gov/newhampshire-appletree. Available trainings include:

Training 1: NH Environmental Health Resource Guide (NH-EHG) introduces the audience to partners available to assist them (e.g., NHDES, APPLETREE, DHHS) and reviews an example of how to use the NH-EHG). PDF can be viewed/downloaded here: https://www.des.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt341/files/documents/nh-ehg.pdf Training recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SjkKg_UcIM&feature=youtu.be

Training 2: Cancer Concerns in the Community outlines the principles that underlie cancer concern investigations and describes an approach to use if someone in the community raises a concern about the numbers of cancers in their neighborhood. Stay tuned, this training will be released soon!

Training 3: Understanding Environmental Contamination and Risk introduces the audience to environmental contamination, environmental health hazards, and provides information on risk communication and risk perception relative to understanding and communicating the risk of environmental contaminants. Training recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCvtUR9x128

One of the resources listed in the NH EHG is the NH Radon Program. The Dartmouth Cancer Center team is developing a Healthy Homes initiative to increase the community’s use of this program which provides free radon test kits to New Hampshire residents: https://drhomeair.fmbetterforms.com/#/new-hampshire-free. We encourage you to share this information broadly within your communities. Please contact DCC’s COE Associate Director, Dr. Judy Rees (judy.rees@dartmouth.edu) if you have ideas about how to increase community participation in this program and hear from any cities and towns who post this information on radon testing on their municipal websites.

Municipal officials and other stakeholders are strongly encouraged to utilize and share these new environmental health educational resources within their cities and towns.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: NHDES, APPLETREE Principal Investigator, Robert Thistle, PhD, Robert.Thistle@des. nh.gov; Dartmouth Cancer Center, Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, Judy Rees, BM, BCh, MPH, PhD, Judy.Rees@dartmouth.edu.

New Hampshire Homeowner Assistance Fund: A Statewide Federal Homeowner Assistance Program

Background Information:

• NH HAF is a federally funded program through the

Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief and Recovery and is administered by NH Housing. • New Hampshire Housing has contracted with a fullservice vendor named Speridian Technologies, LLC, along with their sub-contracted case management vendor, Tidal Basin Group. Correspondence from these two entities can be trusted and will be sent to you on behalf of the NH HAF program.

Program Details:

• There is a NH HAF Application Guide and Checklist to provide general information regarding the program as well as help interested homeowners prepare for the application process. • There are three types of assistance offered through NH

HAF:

• Mortgage Loan Reinstatement – Maximum benefit of $20,000* • Property Charges Default – Maximum benefit of $20,000* • Utility/Internet Payment Assistance – Maximum benefit of $3,000* * Total assistance per property is $20,000 whether utilized for one type of assistance or a combination of any of the three.

Assistance Payments and Processing:

• NH HAF payments are not made to homeowners, but rather to the servicer, provider, and/or municipality. Thus, it is necessary for the NH HAF program to collect some general information for each municipality regarding their preferred method of payment. This request may come from Speridian Technologies, Tidal

Basin, New Hampshire Housing, or RCL Consulting. • When an applicant applies for property tax or water and sewer utility assistance, NH HAF, through Speridian Technologies and Tidal Basin, will reach out to the municipality to verify homeowner information and delinquency. • Payments will be made in accordance with the provider’s preferred method of payment and in accordance with details shared below.

Protections & Law:

• NH HAF assistance will not be considered taxable income for the Homeowner. • Homeowners are not permitted to deduct any property tax payments that were not paid from the Homeowner’s own sources (such as NH HAF assistance). • NH RSA 80:69 - “Any person with a “legal interest” in land subject to a real estate lien may redeem the same by paying or tendering to the tax collector, at any time before a deed thereof is given by the collector, the amount of the real estate lien…” • To address the questions raised as to the legality of New

Hampshire Tax Collectors accepting tax lien payments from those without a “legal interest” in a given property, the following procedures have been implemented: • All property tax payments will be issued as a two party check payable to both the homeowner and the municipality and mailed directly to the municipality. The homeowner will be required to indorse the check over to the municipality for payment of the delinquent property taxes, thus transforming the payment into one made by the property owner. If you wish to assist a homeowner with the application process, Click HomeHelpNH to access the website.

HAPPENINGS from page 7

Summer Edition of National Civic Review Now Available!

Civic learning, a key ingredient of any successful democracy, can take a variety of forms and ought to occur in multiple settings, not just high school classrooms. In this issue of the National Civic Review, published in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation, we explore some of the successful strategies that educators, librarians, nonprofit groups, debate associations, public agencies, and collaborative partnerships are adopting to provide or encourage effective civic learning.

To access this edition, go to the table of contents where you will be prompted to enter your unique access code: NHMA22.

NHMA Government Affairs Team Tour Franklin Wastewater Treatment Plant

On Wednesday, July 20th, the NHMA Government Affairs Team took a tour of the Franklin Wastewater Treatment Facility organized by NHDES Facility Administrator Ray Gordon. The Government Affairs Team learned about the Winnipesaukee River Basin Program and the steps that NHDES and wastewater administrators across the state are taking to ensure that the toilets keep flushing even in a time of drought. Above, NHMA’s Government Affairs Counsel, Natch Greyes, is all smiles during his tour of the Franklin facility.

Cordell A. Johnston

Attorney at Law Representing towns and cities

P.O. Box 252 Henniker, NH 03242 603-748-4019 cordell@cajohnston.com

Welfare Workshop

In June, Jonathan Cowal, NHMA’s Municipal Services Counsel and Stephen Buckley, NHMA’s Municipal Services Counsel, addressed members of the professional welfare community in providing a basic overview of the New Hampshire law governing local welfare administration. Above, NHMA’s Jonathan Cowal covers important tips and best practices on how assistance is best provided.

Bill Signing Ceremony

In July, NHMA’s Government Finance Advisor, Katherine Heck, Government Affairs Counsel, Natch Greyes, attended the bill signing of SB 401, a bill that will provide New Hampshire municipalities with money for roads, bridges and other needed equipment.

Starting on the left: Flanked by NHMA’s Government Finance Advisor, Katherine Heck, Government Affairs Counsel, Natch Greyes, and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley (upfront), Governor Chris Sununu gestures before signing SB 401 at Conway Town Hall (with town officials and state representatives).