New Hampshire Town and City Magazine, January - February 2021

January/February 2021

TownandCity N E W

H A M P S H I R E

In This Issue:

A PUBLICATION OF NEW HAMPSHIRE MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION

2020 Annual Report – Membership Matters................................................4 A Nightmare on Main Street – Town Meeting in a Pandemic................14 Municipal State Aid and Revenue Sharing: Critical Needs Amidst Challenging Budget Times...............................................................20 What Can Your RPC Do For You?..................................................................28 Virtual Town Meetings are More Efficient and Increase Participation.........32 2021 Legislative Outlook: Foggy with Storm Clouds.....................................34

This information is for institutional investor use only, not for further distribution to retail investors, and does not represent an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any fund or other security. Investors should consider the Pool’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing in the Pool.

This and other information about the Pool is available in the Pool’s current Information Statement, which should be read carefully before investing. A copy of the Pool’s Information Statement may be obtained by calling 1-844-464-7347 or is available on the NHPDIP website at www.nhpdip.com. While the Pool seeks to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money investing in the Pool.

An investment in the Pool is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Shares of the Pool are distributed by PFM Fund Distributors, Inc., member Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) (www.finra.org) and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) (www.sipc.org). PFM Fund Distributors, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PFM Asset Management LLC.

Contents Table of

Volume LXIV • Number 1

January/February 2021

3

A Message from NHMA’s Executive Director

9 Happenings 13 Upcoming Events 36 Tech Insights: A 2021 Cybersecurity Checklist: How Do You Rate Your Organization?

40 Legal Q&A: Practical Considerations for Conducting a Successful Optional Annual Meeting Under HB 1129 42 Name That City or Town 44

HR Report: Sanbornize It!

46 Court Update Centerspread: 2020 Annual Conference Thank You.

4 14 20 28 32 34

2020 Annual Report – Membership Matters A Nightmare on Main Street – Town Meeting in a Pandemic Municipal State Aid and Revenue Sharing: Critical Needs Amidst Challenging Budget Times

What Can Your RPC Do For You?

Virtual Town Meetings are More Efficient and Increase Participation 2021 Legislative Outlook: Foggy with Storm Clouds

Cover: Town of Wakefield during the holiday season (photographer unknown).

New Hampshire Town and City Magazine Staff Executive Director Editor in Chief

Margaret M.L. Byrnes Timothy W. Fortier

Contributing Editor Margaret M.L. Byrnes

Becky Benvenuti

Natch Greyes Production/Design

Evans Printing Co.

Official Publication of the New Hampshire Municipal Association 25 Triangle Park Drive • Concord, New Hampshire 03301 Phone: 603.224.7447 • Email: nhmainfo@nhmunicipal.org • Website: www.nhmunicipal.org New Hampshire Municipal Association Phone: 800.852.3358 (members only) NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY (USPS 379-620) (ISSN 0545-171X) is published 6 times a year for $25/member, $50/non-member per year, by the New Hampshire Municipal Association, 25 Triangle Park Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301. Individual copies are $10.00 each. All rights reserved. Advertising rates will be furnished upon application. Periodical postage paid at Concord, NH 03302. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY, 25 Triangle Park Drive, Concord, NH 03301.

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY serves as a medium for exchanging ideas and information on municipal affairs for officials of New Hampshire municipalities and county governments. Subscriptions are included as part of the annual dues for New Hampshire Municipal Association membership and are based on NHMA’s subscription policy. Nothing included herein is to be construed as having the endorsement of the NHMA unless so specifically stated. Any reproduction or use of contents requires permission from the publisher. POSTMASTER: Address correction requested. © Copyright 2021 New Hampshire Municipal Association

www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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New Hampshire Municipal Association

B OA R D O F D I R E C TO R S

As of March, 2019

Shaun Mulholland - Chair City Manager, Lebanon

Jim Maggiore - Vice Chair Selectman, North Hampton

Lisa Drabik - Treasurer Asst. Town Manager, Londonderry

Rick Hiland - Secretary Selectman, Albany

Laura Buono Town Administrator, Hillsborough

Butch Burbank Town Manager, Lincoln

David Caron Town Administrator, Derry

Conservation Commission, Holderness

Shelagh Connelly

Phil D’Avanza Planning Board, Goffstown

Jeanie Forrester Selectman, Meredith

Stephen Fournier Town Manager, Newmarket

Elizabeth Fox Asst. City Manager, HR Director, Keene

Meredith Hatfield Councilor, Concord

Bill Herman Town Administrator, Auburn

Neil Irvine Selectman, New Hampton

Pamela Laflamme Community Development Director, Berlin

Cheryl Lindner Chief of Staff, Nashua

Patrick Long Alderman, Manchester

Harold Lynde Selectman, Pelham

Conner MacIver Town Administrator, Barrington

Judie Milner City Manager, Franklin

Donna Nashawaty Town Manager, Sunapee

David Stack Town Manager, Bow

Eric Stohl Selectman, Columbia

David Swenson Selectman, New Durham

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

www.nhmunicipal.org

certified public accountants

experience counts We know New Hampshire governments.

Your needs come first at Vachon Clukay & Company, PC, so we’ve structured ourselves to fulfill all of your service needs.We provide the following services:

A Message from the

NHMA

Executive Director Margaret M.L.Byrnes

A

lmost everything we do has changed since March; we have all learned to work and live differently. Here at NHMA, we are incredibly impressed—though not at all surprised—by what local officials have been able to do, and their Auditing resilience in responding to and handling not only the pandemic, but also the many Accounting Support and Training issues our communities are facing. NHMA exists to support you in facing these Advising challenges: As a unified voice for the cities and towns of New Hampshire, we provide Personalized “Team” Service support to municipal officials through education, legal services, advocacy, and inforExpertise in How Your Organization Operates mation. Our strength is in our membership, and our services are possible because of Computerized Forms our 234 city and town members, as well as our many associate members.

Operational Management Studies Looking back on the last several months, it is almost difficult to remember all that We want want to to be part of your We your team. team. has happened. Here’s a snapshot of NHMA at work for you in 2020 (but read more For contact: For personal attention contact: in 2020 Annual Report in this issue): Robert L. Vachon, CPA CPA Jarad Vartanian, • Successfully advocated for Emergency Orders from the Governor to provide support and flexibility to municipal operations.

608 Chestnut St. • Manchester, NH 03104 Phone: (603) 622-7070 • Successfully advocated for $32 million in funding for cities and towns from the Fax: (603) 622-1452 federal CARES Act, and conducted two municipal financial impact surveys. www.vachonclukay.com • Participated in weekly calls with Homeland Security, instituted our own weekly COVID-19 call for members, created COVID-19 resources webpage for municipalities, and issued more than 20 COVID-related guidance documents.

Roberts & Greene, PLLC • Hosted and participated Auditing in advocacy calls with our members and federal delegaComprehensive Governmental tion. and Accounting Services • Created a new digital version of our popular Important Dates Calendars, now availableContact in a downloadable us for: iCal format!

Audits of Financial Statements • Relaunched NHMA’s Wage Salary Survey.

Roberts & Greene, PLLC Financial Statement Preparation • Held the first ever Academy for Good Governance, hosted with Primex, attended Accuracy Governmental Comprehensive Auditing Comprehensive Governmental Auditing Accounting Assistance CommunicationServices by 50 municipal and school officials. and Accounting Staff Training and Accounting Services Timeliness • Gained the membershipAdvisory of all 234 cities and towns in New Hampshire.

Management Services Contact us for: And we don’t plan to slow down; the upcoming year will be a challenging and busy Audits of Financial Statements Contact for: Street one.

47usHall 603-856-8005 In 2021, NHMA will be advocating for cities and towns in the State’s biennial Concord, New Hampshire Financial Statement Preparation Email: info@roberts-greene.com Audits of Financial Statements Accuracy budget and following several hundred bills at the legislature. We will continue to Accounting Assistance Roberts & Greene, PLLC Roberts & Greene, Communication advocate for ourPLLC members while working collaboratively and cooperatively with state Financial Statement Preparation Staff Training Auditing omprehensive Governmental Auditing Accuracy Comprehensive Governmental Timeliness officials and policymakers.

We will also offer virtual workshops, including virtual On Accounting Assistance Management Advisory Services oberts & Greene, PLLC nd Accounting Services and Accounting Services Communication Demands; improve the NHMA Wage-Salary Survey, based on feedback from our Staff Training mprehensive Governmental Timeliness 47 HallAuditing members; and launch a new and improved digital version of Town & City magazine.

Street 603-856-8005 d Accounting Services Contact us for: Advisory Services Contact us for: Concord, NewManagement Hampshire Email: info@roberts-greene.com We will continue to work hard to keep up with you, support you, and solve as many Audits of Financial Statements Audits of Financial Statements issues as we can.

Financial Preparation Contact us Statement for: Financial Statement Preparation 47 Hall Street uracy 603-856-8005 Accuracy Accounting Assistance Audits of Financial Statements Please contactAssistance us with quesAccounting Concord, New Hampshire Communication Email: info@roberts-greene.com unication Warmest regards, Staff Training Financial Statement Preparation tions, comments, or concerns Staff Training eliness acy Timeliness Management Advisory Services Accounting Assistance anytime.

We also encourage Management Advisory Services cation Staff Training you to visit our website reguess Street 47 Hall Street 603-856-8005 Management Advisory Services larly to take advantage of all 603-856-8005 w Hampshire Email: info@roberts-greene.com Concord, New Hampshire Email: info@roberts-greene.com Margaret M.L. Byrnes, our member resources and treet 603-856-8005 NHMA Executive Director stay up-to-date on NHMA Hampshire Email: info@roberts-greene.com events.

Roberts & Greene, PLLC

www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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2020 Annual Report MEMBERSHIP MATTERS!

Shaun Mulholland Chairman of Board City Manager Lebanon

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a year unlike any other. Like all of you, NHMA did not have the year we planned—in March, the focus and energy shifted to all things COVID-19 as they related to towns and cities. Looking back on this year, it was almost difficult to remember all that happened and all that we were involved with. Rather than our normal legislative advocacy, we found ourselves coordinating and working with state agencies, including Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Attorney General’s Office; advocating and communicating regularly with the Governors’ Office; and

Margaret Byrnes, Executive Director

working with our Congressional Delegation. Among other things, we successfully advocated for multiple executive orders to bring flexibility to municipal operations; provided extensive guidance, information, and legal advice to cities and towns on all things COVID; and successfully advocated for $32 million in funding for cities and towns from the federal CARES Act. We found ourselves involved with issues we had never considered before, like how to run a town meeting without a large crowd, local authority to require face masks, and, of course, Halloween.

Additionally, we already had plans to begin exploring virtual training and workshop options—those plans quickly turned into the reality of a completely virtual workshop and training schedule to keep people safe and socially distanced. We at NHMA are all incredibly impressed with the work our members have done this year, and we did our best to keep up with you, support you, and address and solve as many issues as we could. NHMA is extremely proud and grateful for the commitment and hard work of the NHMA staff during this challenging year and for the commitment of the NHMA board members, who were dealing both with challenges in their own communities and on behalf of all communities through NHMA. In non-COVID related news, in 2020 we also welcomed our new Government Finance Advisor, Becky Benvenuti, and added Salem as a member, bringing NHMA membership to 100%.

We look forward to serving your needs in 2021.

Membership Representing all municipalities (234 cities and towns) in New Hampshire

31 Affiliate Group members representing municipal professions comprised primarily of municipal officials serving a particular position, such as assessors or road agents 52 Associate Members, including 6 counties, 8 regional planning commissions, 6 fire districts, 14 water and sewer districts, 12 village districts and more

Through the collective power of cities and towns, NHMA promotes effective municipal government by providing education, training, advocacy and legal services.

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www.nhmunicipal.org

Legal Services Attorneys handled over 3,345 legal inquires Top 5 legal inquiries were COVID-19, Selectmen’s Authority, Right-toKnow Law, Planning board, ZBA and employment and public meeting issues 25 workshops (21 held virtually) with over 1,600 attendees Developed numerous legal guidance documents for members regarding COVID-19 pandemic Hosted 12 On-Demands covering topics including Right-to-Know Law, planning board basics, ZBA basics and decision-making Participated in weekly calls with Homeland Security, instituted weekly COVID-19 calls for members, created COVID-19 resources webpage for municipalities and issued more than 20 COVID-related guidance documents

Additional Resources Held the first ever Academy for Good Governance attended by 50 municipal and school officials.

Created a new digital version of our popular Important Dates Calendars, now available in a downloadable iCal format Relaunched and streamlined NHMA’s Wage Salary Survey as an on-demand resource providing information and compensation for specific municipal positions

Through the collective power of cities and towns, NHMA promotes effective municipal government by providing education, training, advocacy and legal services. www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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Advocacy Hosted and participated in advocacy calls with our members and federal delegation Only 39 bills were signed into law (typically 250-350 bills) due to pandemic

Over 700 subscribers to Legislative Bulletin 44 municipal officials representing 37 cities and towns participated in 2021-2022 Legislative Policy Process this year Successfully advocated for Emergency Orders from the Governor to provide support and flexibility to municipal operations Successfully advocated for $32 million in funding for cities and towns from the federal CARES Act, and conducted two municipal financial impact surveys

Communications New email system (Mailchimp) to make email messages more dynamic, clearly branded and responsive to display on desktop computers and mobile devices

2,230 subscribers to New Hampshire Town and City

920 subscribers to NewsLink Through the collective power of cities and towns, NHMA promotes effective municipal government by providing education, training, advocacy and legal services.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

www.nhmunicipal.org

Education and Training 22 webinars; 1,996 registrants; 1,284 attendees; 64% attendance rate 1,679 members accessed NHMA’s webinar archive in 2020 53,243 local government employees in New Hampshire (NH Employment Security, Economic & Labor Market Information Bureau, Q2, 2020) Shifted to virtual training, offering all our regular workshops, including a virtual annual conference, virtual On Demand programs tailored to your municipality, and several webinars focused specifically on COVID-19 issues, and began offering most of our publications and educational resources in a digital format.

Did you know that New Hampshire is a state largely comprised of small towns? In fact, nearly 70 percent of the 234 cities and towns have populations less than 5,000

Virtual Annual Conference & Exhibition Over 220 members from 90 cities and towns attended our first-ever “virtual” Annual Conference and Exhibition Received generous support from over 40 sponsors and exhibitors

Please visit our website regularly to take advantage of all our member resources and stay up-to-date on NHMA events Thank you for your commitment to local government and for your support of NHMA! Through the collective power of cities and towns, NHMA promotes effective municipal government by providing education, training, advocacy and legal services. www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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GoGreen!

Green!

Go Green!

Help Us Go Digital!

HelpGo Us Go Digital!

Go Green!

Help Us Go Digital!

Digital!

Help Us Go Currently our our bi-monthly magazine, New Hampshire Currently bi-monthly magazine, New Hampshire

Town and our City,bi-monthly is published as a member benefit and Currently magazine, New Hampshire Town and City, is magazine, published asHampshire a member benefit and Currently New distributed to bi-monthly approximately municipal officials Town and our City, is published as 2,300 a member benefit and Town and is published as2,300 a member benefit and distributed to approximately 2,300 municipal officials distributed toHampshire. approximately municipal officials across NewCity, distributed to approximately 2,300 municipal officials across New Hampshire. across New Hampshire. across New Hampshire.

We are pleased to continue to deliver the print edition to We are pleased to continue to deliver the print edition to digimember subscribers, however, should you find tothe We are pleased to continue to deliver the print edition We are pleased to continue the print edition to member subscribers, however, should to youdeliver find the digisubscribers, find thea digitalmember version sufficienthowever, and noshould longeryourequire print copy, tal version sufficient and no longer require a print copy, member subscribers, however, find the digital version sufficient andnhmainfo@nhmunicipal.org. no longer require a should print copy,you please let us knowatat please let us know nhmainfo@nhmunicipal.org. or byor by please let us know at nhmainfo@nhmunicipal.org. or by contacting TimFortier.

Fortier. tal version sufficient and no longer require a print copy, contacting Tim contacting Tim Fortier.

please let us know at nhmainfo@nhmunicipal.org. or by Thank you foryour yourconsideration consideration to move a print Thank your consideration move from a print Thank you you for for totomove from afrom print contacting Tim Fortier. edition to of of Town andand CityCity magazine. edition to aa digital digitalversion version Town magazine. edition to a digital version of Town and City magazine.

Help Us Out! Go Green with Town and City!

Help Us Out!Thank Go Green Green Town and City! you with for consideration Help Us Out! Go withyour Town and City! to move from a print Contact TimothyFortier, Fortier,Communications Communications Coordinator, atat603.226.1305 oror at and Contact Timothy Coordinator, 603.226.1305 at edition to a digital version of Town Contact Timothy Fortier, Communications Coordinator, at 603.226.1305 or atCity magazine. tfortier@nhmunicipal.org tfortier@nhmunicipal.org

tfortier@nhmunicipal.org

Help Us Out! Go Green with Town and City!

Contact Timothy Fortier, Communications Coordinator, at 603.226.1305 or at tfortier@nhmunicipal.org

We have all the tools to meet your needs.

Drummond Woodsum’s attorneys are experienced at guiding towns, cities, counties and local governments through a variety of issues including: • • • • • • •

Municipal bonds and public finance Land use planning, zoning and enforcement Ordinance drafting Tax abatement General municipal matters Municipal employment and labor matters Litigation and appeals

We use a team approach – small groups of highly specialized attorneys that work together to offer clients the counsel and support they need, precisely when they need it. It’s an efficient way to practice law. It’s also extremely productive and cost effective for our clients.

Learn more about what our municipal group can do for you at dwmlaw.com.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

dwmlaw.com | 800.727.1941

Manchester, Portsmouth & Lebanon, NH

www.nhmunicipal.org

HAPPENINGS USPS Issues Builders and Developers Guide to Growth Management

Because of the requirements the USPS has regarding new developments, it is important that towns and developers know that part of the planning process must include reaching out to the local Postmaster and/or the Delivery Growth Management Coordinator to approve a location for centralized mail delivery.

The current Growth Management guidelines were published in 2012, but USPS often finds that towns and developers are still under the impression that residents will be able to place curbside boxes in front of their homes at their own discretion.

Below are links to the USPS Delivery Growth Management site, as well as a copy of the PO-632 (National Delivery Planning Standards, A Guide for Builders and Developers). This publication contains important information for all those involved in the development process.

Delivery Growth Management https://about.usps.com/what-we-are-doing/current-initiatives/delivery-growth-management/welcome.htm Builders & Developers Guide https://about.usps.com/handbooks/po632.pdf Approved Manufacturer Link from the Postal Bulletin https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2020/pb22545/pb22545-am.pdf Sample of Approved Manufacturer links https://www.mailboxes.com/ https://www.florencemailboxes.com/ http://www.mailproducts.com/ FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tim Gately, Mgr., Address Management Systems, Delivery Growth Coordinator U.S. Postal Service|Northern New England District 151 Forest Avenue STE 7032 • Portland ME 04101-7032 Office (207) 482-7167 • timothy.e.gately@usps.gov

Download Your 2021 Calendar Today!

Go to the Legal Services section on NHMA’s website (www.nhmunicipal.org) to download your 2021 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.

2020 General Calendar 2021 General Calendar 2021 Traditional (March) Town Meeting Calendar 2021 Traditional (May) Town Meeting Calendar www.nhmunicipal.org

2021 SB2/Official (March) Town Meeting Calendar 2021 SB2/Official (April) Town Meeting Calendar 2021 SB2/Official (May) Town Meeting Calendar JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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Challenge of Public Deliberation as a “Wicked Problem”

HAPPENINGS from page 9

Fall Edition — Access Code: NHMA20

National League of Cities has a New Website!

For more than 95 years, the National League of Cities has been the voice for the nation’s 19,000 cities, towns and villages. NLC is dedicated to providing local leaders with the top resources, tools, and programming to help them best lead their communities. NLC recently introduced a new website that makes it easier for these municipal leaders to access resources and tools in a user-friendly way.

As this edition of the National Civic Review goes out, our nation is approaching a crucial presidential election, dealing with a terrible pandemic and grappling with vexing racial disparities. An article by Martín Carcasson discusses approaching the challenge of public deliberation as a “wicked problem,” in other words, an issue or challenge with conflicting underlying values and no technical solution. Perhaps at this juncture we are in a wicked time, a period with similar attributes of conflicting values and complexity. This edition of the Review was published in collaboration with Charles F. Kettering Foundation. NCL hope the articles in the edition will provide some ideas and tools to rally communities across the country to address complex issues and thrive.

You can access this edition by going directly to the table of contents and entering your access code (NHMA20) when prompted.

Explore NLC’s new website at www. nlc.org.

NHMA Elects 2021 Board of Directors at Annual Business Meeting The annual business meeting of the New Hampshire Municipal Association was held remotely on Friday, October 16, 2020 NHMA’s membership reelected nine incumbent members for an additional three-year term to its Board of Directors: Name Alfred “Butch” Burbank Shelagh Connelly Phillip D’Avanza Lisa Drabik Elizabeth Fox Bill Herman Rick Hiland Harold Lynde David “Swens” Swenson

Position Town Manager Conservation Commission Planning Board Asst. Town Manager Asst. City Mgr./HR Dir. Town Administrator Select board member Select board member Select board member

Municipality Lincoln Holderness Goffstown Londonderry Keene Auburn Albany Pelham New Durham

Appointed or Elected Appointed Appointed Elected Appointed Appointed Appointed Elected Elected Elected

Returning board members include: Laura Buono, Town Administrator, Hillsborough; David Caron, Town Administrator, Derry; Jeanie Forrester, Selectman, Meredith; Stephen Fournier, Town Manager, Newmarket; Meredith Hatfield, Councilor, Concord; Neil Irvine, Selectman, New Hampton; Jim Maggiore, Select Board Member, North Hampton; Pamela Laflamme, Community Development Dir., Berlin;

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Cheryl Lindner, Chief of Staff, Mayor’s Office, Nashua; Patrick Long, Alderman, Manchester; Connor MacIver, Town Administrator, Barrington; Judie Milner, City Manager, Franklin; Shaun Mulholland, City Manager, Lebanon; Donna Nashawaty, Town Manager, Sunapee; David Stack, Town Manager, Bow; and, Eric Stohl, Selectman, Columbia.

www.nhmunicipal.org

The Academy for Good Governance: Congratulations to our 2020 Graduates!

In collaboration with Primex, NHMA issued certificates of completion to 23 members of the first class of school and municipal members in the Academy for Good Governance.

Graduation from the Academy requires attendance in all six courses on such topics as governing body roles and responsibilities, financial responsibilities, managing your public entity’s liability risk, employee benefits, running an effective meeting and more. Courses are taught by experienced attorneys and staff from NHMA, Primex, HealthTrust, and the New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA).

NHMA would like to recognize these individuals for investing their time in an effort to increase their knowledge of municipal government and enhance their capacity to lead. Thank you and congratulations to the 2020 graduating class!

Edward Arnold Anita Avery Ann Bond Jenna Darling Marsha Dixon Virginia Drew Jo Beth Dudley Alan Edelkind Russell Edwards Charles Eicher

Steve Heath

Town of Brookline Town of Bristol Town of Pembroke Town of Newport Town of Francestown Town of Epsom Town of Dalton Town of Dublin Town of Croydon Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District Ashland School Board

Katherine David Cindy Joe Cheryl Zak Susan Carrie Nancy Karen Bob April

Heck Hemenway Kudlik Levesque Lindner Mei Morin Neill Rollins Scott Thibault Villani

Conval SAU 1 Town of Webster Town of Grafton Town of Alstead City of Nashua Town of Easton Town of Weare Town of Barrington Town of New London Town of New Boston Town of Easton Pembroke School District

Responding to Stagnation in Buildings with Reduced or No Water Use At a time when many buildings are not fully occupied due to COVID-19, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) have developed a guide to help building managers address water system stagnation.

Responding to Water Stagnation in Buildings with Reduced or No Water Use is an informal guide and provides some “how to” resources and options to address immediate building needs. The comprehensive resource expands upon the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended guidelines for developing a water management program, including information focused on Legionella, the cause of Legionnaires disease and Pontiac Fever.

You may access the guide here: https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/AWWA/Government/20201001FrameworkforBuildingManagersFINALDistCopy.pdf www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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Academy for Good Governance FREE Certificate Program The Academy for Good Governance is a series of six courses created by NHMA and Primex, exclusively for elected governing body members (select board, town council, city council, board of aldermen, school board, and village district commissioners). Courses are taught by experienced attorneys and staff from NHMA, Primex, HealthTrust, and the New Hampshire School Boards Association (NHSBA). Attendees will receive education and training intended to make them more knowledgeable and effective in their governing body roles.

Attendance at the Academy is free and open to governing body members from municipalities and school districts that are members of NHMA, Primex and NHSBA. Space is limited, and registration will open on the NHMA website in March. Attendees must attend all six courses to receive a Certificate of Completion. All classes run 5:00 pm—7:00 pm with two classes in June, two in September and two in October.

WHO CAN ATTEND? Select board members—Town councilors—School board members—City councilors Board of Aldermen—Village districts commissioners

CREATE NEW CONNECTIONS Don’t miss this chance to build your skills and connect with fellow municipal officials! Find out more:

TENTATIVE TOPICS Governance & Governing Body Authority Presented by NHMA/NHSBA

www.nhmunicipal.org/workshops

Budget & Finance Presented by NHMA

Questions?

Employment Liability/Harassment Presented by Primex Contracts and General Risk Management

Call NHMA’s Event Coordinator Ashley Methot at 603 -230-3350 or email NHMAregistrations@nhmunicipal.org.

Presented by Primex Health Care and Affordable Care Act Presented by HealthTrust Effective Public Meetings Presented by NHMA/NHSBA

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

www.nhmunicipal.org

Upcoming

Events

For more information or to register for an event, visit our online Calendar of Events at www.nhmunicipal.org. If you have any questions, please contact us at nhmaregistrations@nhmunicipal.org or 800.852.3358, ext. 3350.

JANUARY New Year’s Day (NHMA Offices Closed) Friday, January 1 Webinar: 2021 Legislative Preview Wednesday, January 6 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Town and Moderator’s Workshop for SB2 Meeting Saturday, January 9 9:00 am – 2:00 pm Martin Luther King, Jr./Civil Rights Day (NHMA Offices Closed) Monday, January 18 Webinar: Municipal State Aid & Revenue Sharing: An In Depth Review Wednesday, January 20 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Right-to-Know Law for Law Enforcement Virtual Workshop Thursday, January 21 9:00 pm – 12:00 pm Cost is $40.00

FEBRUARY Town and School Moderator’s Workshop for Traditional Town Meeting Saturday, February 6 9:00 am – 2:00 pm President’s Day (NHMA Offices Closed) Monday, February 15 Please note that due to rapidly changing conditions in light of COVID-19, please visit NHMA’s website @ www.nhmunicipal. org frequently for the most up-to-date event and training information. Thank you.

www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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A Nightmare on Main Street – Town Meeting in a Pandemic

By Cordell Johnston, Government Affairs Counsel

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year ago (January/February 2020) I wrote an article for these pages titled “Diary of a First-Time Moderator.” In it I described my experience presiding at the 2019 Henniker town meeting after first being elected moderator the year before. I recounted that despite a few glitches—an “Out of Service” sign on the boys’ room door, a bottle of water spilled on my copy of the warrant—the meeting went smoothly. I ended with this paragraph:

Diary of a First-Time Moderator

by Cordell Johnston, Government Affairs Counsel

T

wo years ago my town’s long-time moderator, Wayne Colby, told me he was thinking of retiring from the position and asked whether I would be interested in succeeding him. This was an easy question. I love town government. In addition to my full-time job at NHMA, I had previously served three terms on Henniker’s planning board and one term as a selectman and had been involved in various other unofficial capacities.

Understanding the law doesn’t necessarily prevent one from doing foolish things. Doing them in front of 200 people is to be avoided if possible.

I especially love town meeting. I am pretty sure that I haven’t missed a Henniker town meeting in 25 years; and, although I don’t make a habit of it, I sometimes go to other towns’ annual meetings just to see what is going on. At our own meeting a few years ago, someone turned to my significant other (also a municipal attorney) and me and said, “This is kind of like the Super Bowl for you, isn’t it?” Yes, it is.

Will there be food—and, more important, coffee?

So that was that. I ran unopposed—contested races for town moderator are rare in New Hampshire, although I’m sure they do happen—and was sworn in at the end of the 2018 town meeting.

My first job was not the town meeting, but the 2018 state primary and general elections. I knew significantly less about election law and procedures than about town meeting, so these events brought some trepidation. Fortunately, our town clerk of almost 30 years more than made up for my inexperience; and Wayne, my predecessor, answered my many questions in advance and helped by serving as assistant moderator for both elections.

Running town meeting, though, is less of a team effort— there is only one person at the podium with a gavel. While the selectmen and others present the warrant articles, only the moderator is in charge of keeping the order.

On paper, I was well prepared. With my background as a municipal lawyer, my attendance at all those meetings over the years, and the training I received at NHMA workshops, I probably knew the laws and the rules as well as any rookie.

I’m looking forward to the 2020 town meeting; I suspect I’m the only one in town who wishes we had meetings more often than annually. [But] assuming I continue in this office, no doubt there will be more challenges in the future.

But town meeting isn’t all about laws and rules. There is also a certain etiquette involved, and frankly, I was nervous.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

“More challenges in the future.” Well, we didn’t have to wait long.

Town moderators were required to oversee five regularly scheduled events in 2020: a presidential primary, two sessions of town meeting, a state primary, and a state election.

In retrospect, the earliest of these events—the presidential primary in February and, for SB 2 towns, the deliberative sessions held about a week earlier—now seem quaint.

People came into the polling place or meeting room, shook hands, perhaps even hugged, hung around and chatted in small groups, and eventually left with no concerns beyond the election or meeting results. Those were the days.

By town meeting day, March 10, the day on which almost every town was scheduled to hold its election/official ballot voting session, things had started to turn. Coronavirus cases were popping up here and there around the country, with five reported cases in New Hampshire. New phrases like “community spread,” “flattening the curve,” and “social distancing” were creeping into our vocabulary.

In Henniker, we took a few precautions that day—mainly offering hand sanitizer to voters. That almost certainly did 14

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

Some of my questions didn’t have answers, at least not satisfactory ones, in any statute or handbook. I have to believe that other new moderators have similar questions. Questions such as . . .

The business session of Henniker’s annual meeting traditionally begins at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. I would prefer a Saturday morning start, but that is not the moderator’s decision.

Even our most efficient meetings last about three hours— long enough that some people might get ugly if they can’t at least get a snack. I did not want to deal with a room full of ugly people. Further, if I don’t have a mid-afternoon cup of coffee, I will fall asleep, no matter what I’m doing; nothing good could come of that.

nothing to prevent the spread of disease, but it did succeed in jamming our vote counting machine three times, as people got the sanitizer on their ballots and then tried to put the wet ballots into the machine. (Don’t get me started on Americans’ obsession with hand sanitizer. Really, don’t.)

We eventually moved the sanitizer to the exit to prevent further problems.

If I did nothing else, I would make sure we had food and coffee.

We represent towns and ci�es throughout the state and bring value to our clients through decades of experience and adhering to the budgetary constraints under which municipali�es operate. We emphasize preven�ve and �mely legal counsel to our clients with a view toward avoiding problems that result in li�ga�on.

Otherwise, the voting proceeded smoothly. There was less congregating than usual, and elbow bumping replaced hand shaking for many people, but both voters and election officials were still relatively unworried. No one was being advised yet to wear masks, and I don’t recall that anyone did.

For years members of the seventh grade class had sold snacks and beverages during the meeting to raise funds for their trip to Washington, D.C., but they had been absent at the prior year’s meeting. With a few e-mails, I found the right contact person and secured a commitment to resume the tradition, emphasizing the importance of coffee. In gratitude, I made a point of noting at least ten times during the meeting that snacks and drinks were available down the hall, and that generous contributions were appreciated.

Should the moderator vote?

 Telecommunica�ons  Tax Assessment  Eminent Domain

One of my few hesitations about accepting this job had been the need to give up my right to participate in town meeting debates. Officially, there is no law that prohibits the moderator from debating and voting, but we all know it’s bad form. (Don’t we?) Above all else, the moderator should be

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Toll Free: (800) 566‐0506 For inquiries please contact Christopher Boldt or Sharon Somers

www.nhmunicipal.org

Shall we postpone?

Then things got real. On Friday, March 13, states of emergency were declared at both the state and federal levels.

There were still only a few confirmed COVID cases in New Hampshire, and none in Henniker, but the numbers were mounting around the country; and with no testing available, no one knew what to expect.

The business session of Henniker’s town meeting was scheduled for the next day, March 14. Under RSA 40:4, II, the moderator may postpone the meeting if “an accident, natural disaster, or other emergency occurs which the moderator reasonably believes may render use of the meeting location unsafe.” On Friday the 13th, the attorney general released a memo implicitly recognizing that the pandemic may constitute an “emergency” that would justify a decision to postpone the meeting. But the decision was still up to local officials.

On the NHMA moderators’ list service, those with meetings scheduled for Friday evening or Saturday were discussing what to do. While some were planning to postpone, a majority intended to proceed. That was my intention as well, and our town administrator put a notice on the town website and Facebook stating that the meeting would proceed as scheduled. www.nhmunicipal.org

That evening I happened to look at Facebook, where quite a few townspeople were urging postponement of the meeting, some of them rather aggressively. (Never mind that some of the more insistent commentators had never, to my knowledge, actually attended a town meeting.) I reminded myself that Facebook comments do not represent a scientific sampling of opinions, and I went to bed planning for a meeting the next day.

Our meeting was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. At 5:30 a.m. one of the selectmen sent an e-mail suggesting that we postpone the meeting.

Facebook comments were continuing to trend in that direction, with some suggesting that we were being indifferent to the concerns of older voters. I e-mailed the selectmen to ask whether they could convene an emergency meeting to discuss the matter. We met at 9:30 a.m.—the five selectmen, the

town clerk, and I. The town administrator, the road agent, and one other resident attended as well.

The statute requires the moderator to consult with the selectmen and the clerk before postponing, but leaves the ultimate decision to the moderator.

Two selectmen were firmly in favor of postponing the meeting; two selectmen and the clerk favored proceeding. The fifth selectman was on the fence, and by now, I was, too. I was certain that postponing was the wrong decision—we all knew the situation was going to get worse, not better, in the coming weeks and months—but public sentiment merited some consideration.

 Telecommunica�ons  Tax Assessment  Eminent Domain

My doubts were soon confirmed. Two days later, March 16, the governor issued an emergency order prohibiting scheduled gatherings of 50 people or more; a week later, the prohibition was tightened to 10 people. A town meeting in the near future would now be not only inadvisable, but illegal.

To make a long story short, we ended up postponing twice more, first to May 9 and then to June 6.

A plan takes shape.

Ultimately, and reluctantly, I said we would postpone, and no one argued.

We got out our calendars and agreed on April 11 as the new date. We posted notice of the postponement in

several physical and on-line locations.

As the announcement circulated, several people thanked us for “doing the right thing,” but I remained unconvinced that we had.

By late May, the prohibition on scheduled gatherings was still in effect—it was now in place through June 15, and it might well be extended again.

We represent towns and ci�es throughout the state and bring value to our clients through decades of experience and adhering to the budgetary constraints under which municipali�es operate. We emphasize preven�ve and �mely legal counsel to our clients with a view toward avoiding problems that result in li�ga�on.

Special counsel services include:

 Appellate  Water  Labor & Employment  Growth Control  Li�ga�on  Land Use & Planning

Also available for conict counsel services

 U�lity & Infrastructure  Police  Environmental

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Toll Free: (800) 566‐0506 For inquiries please contact Christopher Boldt or Sharon Somers

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

15

TOWN MEETING from page 15 Meanwhile, the town was now five months into its fiscal year and had not adopted a budget. Although it could continue, under RSA 32:13, to make expenditures that were “reasonable in light of prior years’ appropriations and expenditures for the same purposes during the same time period,” that was hardly a perfect solution. We needed to adopt a budget; there were also several articles on the warrant that did not fit under RSA 32:13’s authority, including three bond articles.

That’s when an idea struck. The school where we hold our meetings has an intercom system. When someone speaks into the microphone from the principal’s office, it can be heard clearly in every room. A gathering of 10 or more persons was prohibited, but what about multiple gatherings of nine or fewer?

We could put voters in rooms around the school, no more than nine to a room, with an assistant moderator in each room. From the office, I would read each article over the intercom.

One of the selectmen would move the article, and another would second it.

Anyone who wanted to speak on an article or offer an amendment would come to the office to speak. When it was time to vote, people in each room would raise their voting cards; the assistant moderator would record the vote and send me a text message. On a secret ballot vote, each assistant moderator would collect the ballots in an envelope and bring them to the office for counting.

It would be a little unwieldy—I was particularly concerned about having a line of people waiting to speak in the office—but we were beyond striving for perfection at this point. I called our town administrator, Joe Devine, and ran it by him. He’d been thinking along the same lines and thought it was 16

worth a try. We talked to the school principal, Matt Colby, and he was willing to work with us to make it happen.

We met at the school to develop a plan.

As we discussed it, the idea of having people come to the office to speak became more of a concern. Apart from having a crowd in the office, getting to the office would be a challenge. The Henniker Community School was built in multiple phases over a century and a half, and it is a three-story rabbit warren where all but the most familiar get lost immediately. I could imagine voters wandering the halls, trying to find their way from their designated room to the office—and back.

The school’s IT director had a solution. Rather than use the intercom, we could use a video conferencing platform that would enable voters to speak from their rooms and be heard by the entire meeting. Although more complicated than the intercom, this solved the main problem; and by now people were familiar enough with Zoom and similar platforms that it might work.

We agreed. The platform to be used was Discord, a sort of competitor to Zoom; I was not familiar with it, but it sounded manageable. In addition to solving the crowding problem, it made communication with the various rooms easier, because instead of sending me text messages, the assistant moderators could use the “chat” function.

We explained the plan to the selectmen, who got on board with little hesitation. Everyone agreed that, at the very least, we needed to adopt operating budgets for the town, the library, and the water and sewer departments. We expected that people would not be excited about spending a Saturday afternoon in June in a nonair-conditioned building, at some risk to their health (albeit minimal—the

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

first peak had passed by then), so we would finish what absolutely had to get done, see how things were going, and adjourn the meeting to a later date if necessary.

The details.

With the basic concept in place, there were still plenty of details to cover, and I wrote up a comprehensive plan.

To keep lines short, we would have voters check in at three separate building entrances, divided alphabetically.

Each voter would pick up an envelope at check-in containing a copy of the warrant, the special rules for the meeting, a set of color-coded ballots for the secret ballot votes, and a voting card. Each envelope would have a room number written on it, and the voter would go to that room. No room would have more than nine people, and there would be separate rooms for those who declined to wear masks.

Ballot clerks at the three entrances would communicate by walkie-talkie.

If a couple or a family wanted to be in the same room but had last names that were in different parts of the alphabet, the ballot clerks could check them in together using the walkie-talkies, and they could proceed to the same room.

Non-voters (children, guests, members of the press) would need to check in and be assigned to a room, but the voting card and ballots would be removed from their envelopes.

I was able to recruit about 15 people to serve as assistant moderators, one for each room. Most of our regular ballot clerks volunteered, as did the supervisors of the checklist and several other helpful citizens.

A few days before the meeting, Joe, Matt, and I walked through the building with the IT director and the facilities manager to make sure each room was set up for video conferencing and the chairs were spaced at least six feet www.nhmunicipal.org

apart. We also got basic training in the use of Discord. This was at a time when towns around the state were desperately trying to figure out ways to hold their meetings, and as we were leaving the building, I said to Joe, “If this works out, it could be a model for all the other towns—they’ll be calling it the Henniker model.”

“Or,” I added, “it could be a disaster, and we’ll be tarred and feathered.”

The morning of June 6, I set up the check-in tables at each entrance with the envelopes I had stuffed and numbered, and with about 80 ballpoint pens per table. At the time, we still thought the coronavirus was easily transmitted on surfaces, so I had stuffed the envelopes several days in advance and laid them out in flat boxes; thus I could honestly tell people the envelopes and their contents had not been touched by human hands in over 72 hours. I dumped the pens from their original boxes onto the tables and used a single pen to rearrange them somewhat neatly—again, no human contact.

and it was clear that some people were having trouble following them—as I suspect I would have, as well.

Meanwhile, voters were starting to arrive. The check-in process was going fairly smoothly, but as it got closer to 1:00 and I walked around to check on the rooms, my concern was growing.

In some of the rooms, no one could get the technology to work. I alerted the IT director, and he and an assistant began going room-to-room to address the problems.

Since we weren’t using the intercom, we had decided the meeting could be run from the library, which could accommodate the five selectmen, the finance director, Joe, and me. I took my place at the microphone while Joe, Matt, and the IT staff were still running around trying to put out fires.

At 1:00 I announced that we would be a little late getting started because of some technical difficulties. I made a similar announcement, with increasingly abject apologies, about every five minutes for the next half-hour. According to my notes, I finally called the meeting to order at 1:36 p.m., although it was far from clear that all the bugs were gone, as I was getting messages in the chat box about continuing problems in some of the rooms.

Best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men . . .

Meeting time was 1:00 p.m., and I had asked the assistant moderators to arrive around noon to get trained on Discord and find their rooms. The training sessions were my first inkling that this might not go swimmingly. While my job at command central was pretty simple, the instructions for the individual rooms were more complicated, www.nhmunicipal.org

“Can you hear me now?”

In the meeting minutes, what happened over the next hour or so will look quite simple: we opened the voting on one bond article and tabled two others, all without debate. In

real time, however, it was bedlam.

The technology was breaking down randomly throughout the building.

The video was working in only a few rooms. In some rooms the audio was fine, in others it was very weak, and in others it was non-existent. A couple assistant moderators came to the library to inform us that they couldn’t hear a thing in their rooms. The chat box was lighting up with questions and complaints, while the IT staff tried various fixes and we took multiple breaks to regroup, during which we moved people from one floor to another to find rooms where the technology worked. Along the way we learned that (1) Google had released an update overnight that confused some of the software and caused all of the laptops to keep reverting to a “default” mode; and (2) the school’s wifi network was breaking down. The problems were not going to go away.

You really can’t have a legitimate meeting if the participants can’t hear what’s being said. By the time we got to the operating budget, I was considering adjourning the meeting. That’s when Matt, the principal, suggested that we fall back on our original idea—the intercom. That sounded great to me.

With the intercom, finally everyone could hear—but from any room except the principal’s office, the microphone shuts off after 45 seconds.

Someone had a lengthy amendment to the operating budget, which he had to read in 45-second increments, and I then had to continue the discussion in the same manner. When that quickly became absurd, it was suggested that I go down the hall to the office, where there is no limit on mike time.

That solved one problem, but created several more. First, although everyone could now hear me, there was no way for anyone to communicate to me.

Second, I was now isolated from the selectmen, and I had to keep running JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

17

TOWN MEETING from page 17 down the hall to talk to them. Third, when I spoke into the mike in the office, I could hear myself throughout the building on a half-second delay.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have trouble talking while someone is repeating every word back to me a half-second later. To focus on what I was saying, I had to talk so slowly that I was sure I sounded drunk. (This was subsequently confirmed.)

A kilt? Why not.

Somehow during this confusion we managed to vote on the proposed budget amendment (defeated soundly) and then vote on the budget as presented (passed easily). But I was already thinking about how our town attorney would defend this in court.

The day was beginning to seem like a bad dream that would never end.

Adding to the dreamlike quality, there was now a man in a kilt standing in the hallway outside the office, shouting, “This whole thing has been a sh**show!” at a police officer. (To be fair, he wasn’t wrong.) The officer seemed to be restraining him from what I sensed might otherwise have turned into a physical assault on the moderator.

Sometimes there is nothing to do but give up. After a brief consultation with the selectmen, I announced a 15minute recess and asked everyone to adjourn to the school gym, where the meeting would reconvene—no video conferencing, no laptops, no intercom.

While the kilted man was coaxed away, people began emerging from their rooms and wandering through the hallway maze toward the gym.

The scene resembled the aftermath of a week-long air raid, with dazed survivors cautiously exiting their bomb 18

shelters to see what was left of their city. Or maybe that’s just how it felt to me.

As we reassembled in the gym, the obvious question was whether we were now violating the still-active prohibition on “scheduled gatherings” of 10 or more. Although no one challenged me on this, I had two answers ready: (1) This gathering wasn’t scheduled; and (2) I don’t care—I’ll pay the fine.

The police chief was there; he could turn me in if he wanted. (He wasn’t going to. He gave me a sympathetic fist bump afterward.)

A return to order.

With people sitting on the bleachers or just milling around on the gym floor, we set up a speaker with a hand-held microphone and improvised. Before we could do anything else, one woman angrily demanded that we start the meeting over. I said we were not going to do that, but she made the legitimate point that we had just adopted a budget even though some people were unable to hear the presentation.

I then asked whether she would like to move to reconsider the vote on the budget, and she said yes. The motion was seconded, I called for a vote, and the motion to reconsider failed.

With that out of the way, the meeting voted to move forward the other departmental budgets and a few other articles of pressing importance. We dealt with those in rapid-fire manner, approving them all with no debate. In the meantime, having closed the polls on the bond vote, we counted the ballots and announced that it had passed,

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

80-10. Someone then moved to limit reconsideration on all the articles that had been voted on, and that motion passed easily.

At that point I told the selectmen we should adjourn to a later date, and all agreed. A motion was made and seconded, and the meeting was adjourned to July 15 at 6:00 p.m.

As the gym slowly emptied, several people came up to me to express their support for our efforts and their regrets that it had gone so badly. I did hear some complaining, but it was far outweighed by the supportive comments.

I sat down to commiserate with Joe, Matt, and the school facilities manager. We had all poured an enormous amount of work into something that failed entirely, but we still had to plan the July 15 meeting. Matt agreed that we could use the gym, and we decided to leave the details for a time when we could think more clearly.

No one was tarred and feathered, but clearly the “Henniker model” was not going to be the salvation of New Hampshire town meeting.

I recalled the prior year’s long but tame meeting, after which I had retired to Daniel’s restaurant in Henniker for a leisurely dinner and a manhattan or two. That wasn’t going to happen today—under the state of emergency, restaurants were doing take-out only.

Nor would a manhattan have sufficed, anyway—the only thing I wanted to mix my bourbon with was more bourbon.

A low-tech finale.

On July 15 the meeting reconvened in the gym without any fancy techwww.nhmunicipal.org

nology. The statewide prohibition on large gatherings had expired, and we had set up chairs six feet apart across the entire floor and pulled the bleachers out. The doors to the outside were open to provide ventilation and to allow people to sit outside if they chose. By my recollection, about 60 people attended; most but not all were wearing face masks, and no one chose to sit outside.

I began by summarizing the actions that had been taken on June 6, then I asked whether anyone wanted to reconsider any of those votes. I thought it was important to make this offer—I had imagined sitting in a courtroom with a judge asking, “You’re telling me the meeting adopted a budget when people couldn’t hear?” The defeated motion to reconsider on June 6 probably cured that defect, but I wanted to leave no doubt; and I knew a motion to reconsider wouldn’t pass.

Because we had voted at the earlier session to limit reconsideration, if a motion to reconsider did pass now, the actual reconsideration would have to occur at yet another adjourned session held at least seven days later. I explained this, expecting that it might dampen enthusiasm for such an action; nevertheless, after a short pause, someone did move to reconsider all of the June 6 actions. The motion was seconded, but was overwhelmingly defeated.

After that, and certainly compared to everything that had happened previously, the rest of the meeting was unremarkable. There was a vigorous debate over an expenditure for road improvements, but that was nothing.

We finished in under two hours, and Town Meeting 2020 was history.

And then we had the fall elections—a whole other story. They brought unprecedented challenges as well, but after town meeting, nothing seemed difficult.

Lessons.

Notwithstanding the debacle, I still believe our fundamental plan was a good one. If it is possible to divide the meeting into separate rooms with sufficient space but still enable voters to communicate with each other, public health can be protected while preserving the essence of town meeting. How to do it is the issue. Some towns may want to work on that in 2021. I doubt that we’ll try it again.

One obvious lesson—which I have always known but somehow forgot this time—is that one should never, ever assume that any kind of technology is going to work. In the future, any high-tech processes at our meetings will come with a low-tech Plan B. I also was reminded that (a) there are a

few people in every town who are certain that local government does everything wrong and are always happy to tell us about it, but (b) there are plenty more who quietly appreciate the efforts of local officials and employees; and many of the latter will pitch in to help when necessary. The number of people who volunteered their time for both the town meeting and the fall elections was inspiring. Equally inspiring were the support and patience of the selectmen and other town officials who suffered through the ordeal with us.

Do I still wish we had town meetings more than once a year? Well, maybe not until the pandemic is over. It will be a relief to get back to a “normal” meeting, whenever that may be possible. I don’t know what will happen in 2021, but I expect it will be less exciting than 2020. And that will be fine.

Cordell Johnston is the town moderator in Henniker and is NHMA’s Government Affairs Counsel.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

19

Municipal State Aid and Revenue Sharing: Critical Needs Amidst Challenging Budget Times

By Becky I. Benvenuti, Government Financial Advisor Editor's Note: NHMA would like to recognize and acknowledge the significant foundational contributions of former Government Finance Advisor, Barbara T. Reid, in the development of this important advocacy publication.

S

tate agencies, the governor, and the legislature are beginning New Hampshire’s biennium state budget process for fiscal year 2022-2023 as towns and cities, the state, the nation, and the world continue to battle the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. With the extraordinary fiscal impacts now surging due to a second wave of the pandemic, uncertainties loom about budgeted state aid and revenue sharing for municipalities—all the while unbudgeted, yet essential, COVID-related municipal expenses continue to be incurred.

The following are excerpts from NHMA’s recently updated publication: Municipal State Aid and Revenue Sharing: History and Trends. To read the entire publication, which includes additional information and charts, please visit the NHMA website at www.

NHmunicipal.org.

Understanding the various types of revenue sharing and aid provided by the state to local governments is critical to understanding the effect that state-level budgetary decisions have on local property taxes. With the property tax as the primary source of local revenue, reductions in any state revenue sharing or aid program, or the shifting of state costs to municipalities, most often result in increased property taxes. This report explains the state revenue sharing and aid programs relied upon by cities and towns as well as recent trends in funding those programs.

Education funding, a major category of state aid, is received directly by school districts, except in the nine cities where the school district operates as a department of the city. Educational funding affects the local school property tax rate, not the municipal tax rate, and is not the focus of this article.

20

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

The state aid schedule (Chart A) prepared by the New Hampshire Legislative Budget Assistant’s Office (NHLBAO) shows the three major categories of state aid to cities and towns:

General Funds Meals and Rooms Tax Revenue Distribution State Revenue Sharing (Suspended 2010-2021) State Retirement Normal Contribution (Repealed 2013) Railroad Tax Distribution (RSA 82:31 and RSA 228:69) State Municipal Aid Grants (One-Time Surplus: Added 2020-2021) Environmental Flood Control Landfill Closure Grants Public Water System Grants (Moratorium since 2008) Pollution Control Grants – State Aid Grants (SAGs) Water Supply Land Protection Grants Highway Funds Highway Block Grants Highway Construction Aid Municipal Bridge Aid The total state revenue sharing and aid distributed to municipalities for years 2008-2021 is illustrated in Chart B. These amounts decreased significantly in 2010-2014 as the state struggled to balance its own budget following the www.nhmunicipal.org

2008-2009 recession. Use of onetime revenues or surplus in 2018 accounts for the $30 million increase in highway funding. One-time surplus also accounts for the addition of $20 million ‘state municipal aid grants’ in fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

Meals and Rooms Tax Distribution History. When the meals and rooms tax was enacted in 1967, the intent was to share the revenue with municipalities, with the state retaining 60% and municipalities receiving 40% annually. The legislature decreased the municipal share several times (in 1977 and 1981) virtually freezing the funding below the 1976 level. It was not until 1993 that the meals and rooms tax statute was amended to provide an annual catch-up formula to reach the statutory 60/40 split. The formula provides that each year, the amount to be distributed to municipalities equal the previous year’s distribution amount, plus 75% of the year-over-year increase in revenue from the meals and rooms tax, not to exceed $5 million.

The municipal share is distributed to cities and towns based on annual population estimates provided by the New Hampshire Office of Strategic Initiatives. In 1999 the Legislature added rental car receipts to the Meals and “Rental” tax, and 100% of these revenues are paid into the education trust fund.

Trends. In 2001, the state/municiwww.nhmunicipal.org

pal share was 82%/18%. As the meals and rooms tax revenues gradually increased, so did the municipal share of those revenues due to the catch-up formula described above. In fact, in 2010 the state/municipal apportionment reached 71%/29%. However, the catch-up formula was suspended in 10 of the past 12 years, while the tax revenue continued to increase through 2020. As a result, the municipal distribution dropped from the high of 29% in fiscal year 2010 to 20% in fiscal year 2020. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, the total meals and rooms tax revenue dropped 10.1% in fiscal year 2020. However, the fiscal year 2021 municipal distribution remained level at the 2017, $68.8 million amount, representing a greater, 23% share. (Chart C).

Had the catch-up formula not been suspended for 10 of the past 12 years, the state fiscal year 2021 distribution to cities and towns would have been approximately $101 million, or 33% of the meals and rooms tax revenues received ($305 million unaudited), rather than $68.8 million (23%).

Cumulatively, the suspension of the catch-up formula resulted in a loss to municipalities of approximately $189 million from fiscal years 2010-2021 (Chart D).

Revenue Sharing History. In 1969, reform in how the state taxed businesses led to the implementation of the Business Profits Tax (BPT). This eliminated antiquated taxes which were more reflective of an agricultural economy of the past.

These taxes, however, were assessed and collected by municipalities and were part of the property tax base for municipalities, school districts and counties (including tax on stock in trade, taxes on studhorses, poultry, domestic rabbits, fuel pumps/tanks and other taxes). The initial intent of the revenue sharing statute, RSA 31-A, was to “return a certain portion of the general revenues of the state to the cities and towns for their unrestricted use”. Chapter 5, Laws of 1970.

On March 31, 1970, in testimony on House Bill 1, then New Hampshire Attorney General Warren Rudman responded to concerns that future legislators may choose not to honor this commitment to municipalities to fund revenue sharing, stating, “… It seems quite doubtful to me that once this bill is passed that any legislator would go back on its pledge to return revenue to cities and towns that originally belonged to those cities and towns. And I might also add, in passing, that I could hardly see a Governor signing a bill which would deprive cities and towns of the revenue which they once had.”

Trends. Total revenue sharing in 1999 was $47 million. In 2000, as part of statutory changes to fund the state’s adequate education obligations, $22 million of revenue sharing that had been allocated to school districts became part of the state adequate education aid funding. This left the balance of $25 million annually as general revenue sharing for municipalities and counties, which remained constant through fiscal year 2009. Since 2010, revenue sharing has been completely JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

21

CRITICAL NEEDS from page 21 suspended resulting in a loss to municipalities and counties of $25 million per year, or $300 million cumulatively from fiscal year 2010-2021 (Chart E).

Although clearly not the intended outcome, as Warren Rudman articulated (above), by continuing to suspend this statutory provision, cities and towns are deprived of the revenue they once had before their property tax base was statutorily reduced.

Highway Block Grants History. Twelve percent (12%) of the total road toll (gas tax) and state motor vehicle fees revenue collected in the preceding state fiscal year are distributed to municipalities through a local highway aid formula. This money comes from the state highway fund, not the state general fund, and provides funding to maintain and improve Class IV and Class V municipal roads and highways. In addition, supplemental funds totaling $400,000 provide assistance to those municipalities who have high roadway mileage and lower property valuations.

Trends.

From fiscal years 2006 through 2010 the total amount of annual highway block grants varied from $28.5 to $30.5 million. In 2009 the legislature enacted a temporary 2-year state motor vehicle registration fee surcharge which increased the state highway fund, resulting in approximately $5 million more for municipalities each year. This highly unpopular surcharge was repealed, and block grant funding to municipalities 22

returned to approximately $30 million per year from 2013 through 2015.

In 2014 the legislature raised the road toll for the first time in 23 years, increasing the rate by approximately 4 cents from 18 to 22 cents per gallon of gasoline effective July 1, 2014. This raised an additional $33 million per year in highway funding of which 12%, or an additional $4 million, has been distributed to municipalities.

Following a principle of “using onetime revenue for one-time expenses,” in 2017 the state appropriated an additional $30 million for municipal highways from general fund surplus. This additional money was apportioned to municipalities based on the same formula as highway block grants and was available for the same municipal highway purposes as the block grants. This additional funding is reflected in fiscal year 2018 and accounts for the significant increase that year (Chart F).

State Bridge Aid History. The State Bridge Aid program under RSA 234 provides that funding for construction or reconstruction of municipally owned bridges shall be borne 80% by the state and 20% by the municipality, subject to the available level of funding each year. In 2015, 338 (20%) of municipal-owned bridges were classified as “red listed” meaning the bridge was in poor condition, critically deficient and/or functionally obsolete. In 2017 under Senate Bill 38, the definition was modified to be “a bridge with a primary element in poor or worse

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

condition (National Bridge Inventory rating of 4 or less)”. Previously the red list also included bridges with posted weight limits (e.g. “Weight Limit 15 Tons”) regardless of condition. This statutory change resulted in 71 bridges being removed from the municipal red list. As of December 30, 2019, there were 243 municipal red list bridges out of 1,688.

Trends. Historically, State Bridge Aid had been budgeted at approximately $6.8 million annually which resulted in about a 10-year waiting list for state aid. Part of the revenue from the 2014 increase in the road toll discussed above was intended to double the amount of funding appropriated for municipal bridge aid, helping to reduce the 10-year waiting period to a more reasonable timeframe. The increase in State Bridge Aid in fiscal year 2015 reflects funding from the road toll increase which allowed the replacement or repair of more bridges than typically done in a year. However, this was short-lived with the fiscal year 2016-2017 budget appropriations dropping back down to the historic level of $6.8 million per year – with all of the appropriation coming from the 4 cent road toll increase, which was supposed to supplement, not supplant, the bridge aid provided through the highway fund.

In 2016, the state 10-year transportation improvement program was amended to provide an additional $2.5 million in municipal bridge aid for fiscal year 2017. Funding for this additional appropriation came from surplus funds in the Department of Transportation’s winter maintenance budget due to the mild winter. In 2018, an additional $6.8 million was appropriated for municipal bridge aid, coming from the anticipated June 2017 state general fund surplus similar to the additional highway block grant funding explained above. For 2019 an additional $10.4 million was approwww.nhmunicipal.org

priated for “high traffic volume” municipal bridge projects. This influx of additional state funding for municipal bridges over the past several years has helped to reduce the waiting period for all municipalities on the list for state bridge aid.

Environmental Grants History. Municipalities receive grants from the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) for the construction, improvement and expansion of municipal wastewater and public drinking water facilities and also for assistance with the cost of landfill closures. Under these programs, municipalities finance the full cost of the project up-front, complete construction and then apply for payment of the state share, which is 20% to 30% of the eligible project costs, usually paid by the state over the amortization period of the municipal financing (bonding or borrowing from the state revolving loan fund).

State Aid Grants (SAG) – Pollution Control. RSA 486 provides financial assistance in the form of a grant to NH communities to off-set the planning, design and construction costs of certain sewage disposal facilities. The wastewater SAG program provides a 20 to 30 percent grant, depending on the community’s sewer user fee, to NH communities for eligible sewage disposal facilities.

Trends. The amount of state aid grants from the state general fund began declining in 2008 with funding in 2013 less than 32% of the funding in 2005 ($5.6 million vs. $17.6 million). As part of the 2010-2013 budget reductions, the state only funded its obligations for grants approved through 2008. This left municipalities to pick up the anticipated state share ($53 million) for 127 previously approved and completed infrastructure projects - projects which were “sold” to propwww.nhmunicipal.org

erty taxpayers based on financial commitments from the state.

Projects that were approved to receive funding by the Governor and the Executive Council prior to November 2008 continued to receive grant payments. However, State Aid Grant (SAG) pre-applications received after November 2008 were placed on the NHDES “Delayed and Deferred List” and received grants only as funding was restored to the program.

As part of the fiscal year 2014-2015 biennial budget, funding was restored for all projects on this Delayed and Deferred list. With the state making payments of $53 million over the amortization period of the municipal financing, the net effect on the 2014 and 2015 state budgets compared to 2013 was an increase of approximately $4 million and $4.4 million, respectively. However, also as part of the fiscal year 2014/2015 biennial state budget, a moratorium was placed on funding any new environmental infrastructure projects that did not have local financing authorization by December 31, 2008. In 2016 and 2017 funding was eventually provided for 8 and 19 additional projects, respectively, that had received local financing approval prior to the December 2008 moratorium. This left unfunded, nearly 50 wastewater projects qualifying for state aid of $90 million over the next ten years if the moratorium was lifted.

In 2019, $3,652,347 and $3,781,024 was appropriated for 2020 and 2021, respectively, which match the total fiscal year 2020 and 2021 estimated grant amortization payment amounts reported by NHDES for 70 projects comprising the ‘Current Estimate of Need for Wastewater State Aid Grant Projects’, revised 3/25/19. This list represented all projects expected to have a required substantial completion date of December 31, 2019. As

of publication time, all but 6 of the 70 projects have been submitted to Governor & Executive Council and approved for grant payments. Also, 5 additional projects which met the December 31, 2019 substantial completion date have also not been submitted to Governor & Executive Council.

Public Water System Grants. RSA 486-A provides a state contribution to aid public water systems to comply with requirements of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act through two separate programs: 1) Public Water System Grants are equal to 20-30 percent of annual amortization charges (principal and interest) of eligible costs for surface water treatment, regional water systems, and groundwater investigations pay for previously approved projects. The program has not been funded for new projects since 2013. Current budgeted amounts represent grant payments for previously approved projects.

2) Water Supply Land Protection (WSLP) Grant Program, created by the Legislature in 2000, provides municipalities and non-profit water suppliers the opportunity to purchase land or conservation easements. The legislature appropriated $1.5 million per year in the first few years of the program but has not appropriated any funds since 2008.

When the program was funded, the average appropriation was $768,521 per year. In 2011, the program received $3 million from a NH Department of Transportation (DOT) mitigation fund associated with the widening of I-93. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NHDES and DOT, the funds are limited to the protection of water supply lands in the communities (Salem, Windham, Derry, Londonderry and Manchester) directly impacted by JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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Although we missed seeing everyone in person, NH pecially our generous sponsors and exhibitors, who

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

www.nhmunicipal.org

rson, NHMA is thankful for the support of its members, and esors, who made this year’s event the best it (virtually) could be!

SAVE NOVEMBER 17-18, 2021 FOR THE 80TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION Auctions International Inc. BMSI BS&A Software CAI Technologies CheckmateHCM Citizens Bank, commercal Banking CMA Engineers, Inc. Cohos Advisors Competitive Energy Services Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC Drummond Woodsum Freedom Energy Logistics Granite State College Green International Affiliates, Inc. Harriman HealthTrust Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, Inc. Interware Development Co, Inc. M.E. O'Brien & Sons, Inc. Mascoma Bank Melanson Municibid Municipal Resources, inc.

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We hope to see you in Manchester at the DoubleTree by Hilton, or back in Whova if we are still meeting virtually!

Resilience

DON’T FORGET! Recorded sessions and handouts are available for 6 months after the conference in the mobile app and 3 months on the web app. Just log into the Whova app and refer back to videos/handouts and Q&A sessions.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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CRITICAL NEEDS from page 23 the I-93 project and land in the watershed of Lake Massabesic, which provides drinking water to the City of Manchester. The final grant was awarded in 2018.

Landfill Closure Grants. RSA 149M:41-50 authorizes grants to reimburse municipalities 20 percent of eligible capital costs to encourage and assist in closing unlined solid waste landfills and certain municipal incinerators.

Trends. Chapter 346:86, Laws of 2019 provides that no state aid grants shall be made for any projects under RSA 486, 486-A, or RSA 149-M that have not achieved substantial completion by December 31, 2019. (Chart G)

Flood Control. RSA 122:4 provides flood control reimbursement to those municipalities in interstate flood control compacts. Under the compacts, municipalities receive a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for taxable land that was taken to help mitigate downstream flooding from both the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers. Up until 2012, the state reimbursed the full amount of the PILOT, even if the other states in the compacts (Massachusetts and Connecticut) did not make their payments under the compact terms.

In 2012 and 2013, the state only paid its share (approximately 30%) of the PILOT when the other states did not make payments. However, in 2014 funding of $542,672 was provided to compensate municipalities for the PILOT shortfall in 2012 and was paid 26

to municipalities in 2015. Similarly, $163,285 was appropriated in 2016 to partially compensate for the 2013 shortfall. Full funding of the PILOT was made from 2014 to 2019, and the state budget for 2020 and 2021 also included full PILOT funding, regardless of payments from other states.

NH Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund. Established in 2016, RSA 6-D, to provide for the protection, preservation and enhancement of the drinking water and groundwater resources of the state, this trust was initially funded with $276 million from a 2016 lawsuit against ExxonMobil involving the gasoline additive MtBE. Authorized expenditures from the trust include competitive costsharing grants and low interest loans to municipalities and municipallyowned water utilities, with administration of the trust fund vested in an 18-member commission comprised of state and local officials, as well as business and public members.

The NH Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund Commission reports it has awarded $112 million in grants and loans for the period 2017-2019.

Since a significant portion of these awards were for low interest loans that will be paid back into the trust fund over time, it is planned that trust fund assets will be available to fund similar projects for at least the next two decades.

New Hampshire Retirement System History. The New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS) was established in 1967 to consolidate and replace four separate pension plan systems: the New Hampshire Teachers Retirement System, the New Hampshire State Employees Retirement System, the New Hampshire Policemen’s Retirement System, and the New Hampshire Permanent Firemen’s Retirement

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

System. NHRS is a public employee retirement system that administers one cost-sharing, multiple-employer pension plan providing a defined benefit annuity based upon a statutory formula, disability, and survivor benefits, for all full-time state employees, public school teachers and administration, permanent police officers, and permanent firefighters. Full-time employees of political subdivisions (such as county, municipal or school district employees) are also eligible to become members of the NHRS if the local governing body elects to participate, which most have. NHRS also administers cost-sharing multiple-employer healthcare plans, known as Other Post-Employment Benefit (OPEB) plans, which provide a medical insurance subsidy to qualified retired members. As of June 30, 2019, there were 48,288 active members of the NHRS and 38,352 retired members (including beneficiaries).

Trends. Funding for the NHRS comes from three sources: investment earnings, employee contributions, and employer contributions. Investment earnings fluctuate from year to year, with annual returns in the past 20 years reaching as high as 23% and as low as -18%. Over the long term, investment earnings provide anywhere from two thirds to three quarters of the funds needed to pay for pension benefits. For projection purposes, an “assumed rate” of investment return is adopted by the NHRS Board of Trustees. This assumed rate had been as high as 9.5% but was gradually lowered to the current rate of 6.75% for use in projecting future investment earnings. Lowering the assumed rate of future investment earnings results in higher employer contributions as explained below.

Employee and Employer Contribution Rates. The employee contribution rates are set by statute and are currently 7% for employees and teachwww.nhmunicipal.org

ers (Group I), and 11.55% for police and 11.8% for firefighters (Group II) effective July 1, 2011.

Employer rates are adjusted every two years based upon an actuarial valuation to ensure adequate funding for future pension liabilities. Through these biennial rate adjustments, employers not only contribute toward their current employees’ retirement, but also bear the full financial burden of any funding shortfalls in the system, whether those shortfalls are the result of poor investment returns, insufficient funding in the past, losses from actuarial assumptions regarding member demographics (such as when employees will retire, their age at retirement, how long they will live after retirement, and their earnable compensation), or increases in liabilities from statutory changes to the plan design. As previously mentioned, lowering the assumed rate of future investment returns has a direct impact on future employer rates, since it is the employer rates that fluctuate biennially to ensure the system is adequately funded.

State Contribution for Teachers, Police and Firefighters. The State of New Hampshire had funded a portion of the normal retirement costs for teachers, police and firefighters, a practice that dated back to 1940 under the predecessor retirement systems.

Since 1977, the state contribution had been set by statute at 35% of the

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cost, with municipalities, counties and school districts paying 65% of the cost for teachers, police, and firefighters.

(Municipalities, counties, and schools paid 100% of the cost for all other employees enrolled in the NHRS.) The state contribution rate was lowered to 30% in 2010, to 25% in 2011, to $3.5 million in 2012 and then eliminated in 2013. This resulted in local governments paying 100% of the retirement costs for teachers, police, and firefighters in 2013 and beyond.

Chart H illustrates the local government employer contribution rates for every $100 of compensation from 2002 through 2023. The significant increases in the rates from 2010 to 2015 are primarily the result of elimination of the state contribution, reductions in the assumed rate of return, and investment losses from the 20082009 recession.

NHRS Board of Trustees certified these rates on September 8, 2020, and noted the most significant drivers of this rate increase, in order of impact, were: 1) the reduction of the assumed rate of return from 7.25% to 6.75%; 2) the adoption of post-retirement mortality assumptions; and 3) a reduction in the payroll growth factor.

As the Governor and Legislature begins creating the state budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023 biennium, municipal officials are urged to talk with their respective Representatives and Senators about the importance of funding these state aid programs and the impact it has had on municipal operations and local property taxes.

Becky I. Benvenuti is the Government Finance Advisor for the New Hampshire Municipal Association. She can be reached by telephone at 603.230.3308 or by email at bbenvenuti@nhmunicipal.org.

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On July 1, 2021, employer contribution rates for fiscal years 2022-23 will increase an aggregate 19.6% over the 2020-21 fiscal year biennium. The

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What Can Your Regional Planning Commission (RPC) Do For You? The New Hampshire Association of Regional Planning Commissions (NHARPC) is the affiliation of the nine regional planning commissions (RPCs) in the state of New Hampshire. These RPCs include: Central NH Regional Planning Commission; Lakes Region Planning Commission; Nashua Regional Planning Commission; North Country Council; Rockingham Planning Commission; Southern NH Planning Commission; Southwest Region Planning Commission; Strafford Regional Planning Commission; and Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission.

T

he nine New Hampshire regional planning commissions collectively authored the following series of snapshots to illustrate the many ways in which they can support your local planning needs.

Preface The primary role of a Regional Planning Commission (RPC) is to support local municipalities in their planning and community development responsibilities. This is done in a variety of ways such as: • Assisting communities in preparing local planning documents, • Providing technical assistance and general guidance to local land use boards, • Helping to secure funding for transportation and other infrastructure projects, • Working with municipalities to obtain and administer state and federal grant programs, and • Reducing costs to municipalities through regional coordination and intermunicipal cooperation.

Master Planning, Zoning and Land Use Regulation The Regional Planning Commission’s provide a wide variety of local planning assistance to their member communities, notably master plan update support and assistance in zoning and land use regulation reviews and updates.

During the master plan update process and depending upon the needs of a community, RPC staff can provide assistance and guidance during the public outreach and data collection stage, assist in the preparation of individual chapters of the master plan and facilitate discussions regarding the development of policy recommendations. While the vison and land use chapters are the only required master plan chapters as 28

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outlined in state statute, other sections that address topics such as housing, transportation, natural resources, economic development, and community facilities all provide a wide range of information and support to the plan’s recommendations.

The recommendations included in the master plan’s implementation chapter can often lead to updates to the zoning ordinance and/or regulations such as the subdivision or site plan review regulations. Some communities begin with a Planning Board “Process Audit” which seeks to determine how predictable and clear the Board’s approval process is for applicants, and provide recommendations for improving the process. Ultimately, the measure of a master plans’ success is the timely implementation of the plan’s recommendations. RPCs can assist in that process.

Circuit Riding Many New Hampshire communities have active local land use boards and committed volunteer board members but lack full-time professional planners on staff to support their needs. Other communities have professional staff but need specialized assistance or additional staff support. Several of the RPCs offer Circuit Rider services to help support local planning needs. A Circuit Rider is a professional planner employed by an RPC who provides support for local land use boards, usually planning boards, on a contractual basis.

Support services typically include reviewing subdivision and site plan applications, drafting zoning ordinances and planning regulations, preparing warrant articles, and facilitating public meetings and hearings.

The benefits of using a Circuit Rider include flexibility, cost control and the ability to tap into the broader expertise of the RPC, its staff, and services such as GIS. Circuit Rider support is usually provided on a not-to-exceed contract basis, so expenditures are predictable and much of the cost is typically covered by applicants. Circuit Rider planners www.nhmunicipal.org

can provide services to a local board for as little as a few hours a month to several hours a week depending on a community’s needs and can also fill-in for vacant staff positions on a temporary basis. Currently, NRPC provides Circuit Rider services to three of our region’s planning boards on a regular basis, supplemental staff support to one of our largest towns, and has recently begun providing Circuit Rider support to one of the area’s more active conservation commissions. In the past, NRPC also provided Circuit Rider services for a local Zoning Board. Reach out to your local RPC to learn how they can help support your planning and land use goals.

Intermunicipal Coordination One of the essential aspects of regional planning is hosting a forum for intermunicipal coordination and cooperation. Communities are often grappling with similar issues and challenges. In the most recent year communities have had to navigate an ever-changing landscape. Strafford RPC (SRPC) communities kicked-off 2020 by discussing the collapse of the recycling markets and resultant impact on municipal budgets. Using the RPC Commission meeting as a forum, commissioners along with representatives of our communities gathered for a robust conversation about the current state of recycling and strategies each are deploying to reduce costs. This commission meeting was the catalyst for an ongoing Recycling Roundtable enabling municipalities to brainstorm potential collaborative actions.

As we neared the end of the 1st quarter of 2020 the conversation across all of NH shifted to the pandemic. SRPC’s economic development team transformed its monthly local economic development directors’ brownbag lunch into the Seacoast Economy calls. Municipal staff, Chambers of Commerce, and area economic development partwww.nhmunicipal.org

ners met virtually, twice weekly, to share response ideas, triage questions they were receiving from constituents, and formulate ideas to support local businesses. Eight months later the Seacoast Economic Development Stakeholders continue to convene (weekly now) to plan for the future and share resources to promote regional economic recovery and resilience.

Transportation Planning Regional Planning Commissions are perhaps best known for Transportation Planning services. In both urban and rural corners of the state, the RPC’s, through their transportation planning programs ensure an uninterrupted flow for federal construction dollars to our towns and cities. The RPC’s provide professional transportation planning and technical assistance services to member communities in understanding the causes of, and potential solutions to, transportation related issues.

The most visible Transportation Planning role for the RPC’s is through the States Ten Year Plan Process. The RPC’s utilize extensive public outreach to provide NHDOT a fiscally constrained, prioritized list of transportation priorities based on local and regional needs. In addition, the RPC’s provide a direct conduit to federal

Pyro Box Bicycle/Pedestrian Counter on Elm Street, Manchester, NH

transportation dollars that can be used to improve intersection safety and operations, better air quality and expand access and mobility for those dependent on transit, bicycle or pedestrian facilities.

Finally, as a valued member of an RPC, your community has access to decades of transportation planning experience. The transportation planning staff at each RPC can bring valuable services to your community including transportation content for your master plan, transportation data collection, congestion analyses as well as corridor and parking studies.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Bicycle and pedestrian counting programs have significantly expanded among the RPCs and can capture data on a myriad of trails and sidewalks.

Example of seasonal data on the Londonderry Trail In August 2018 and February 2019. As one would expect, there are far fewer users in cold weather months. Interestingly, however, daily peaks of 9:00 am and 4-6 pm remain very similar.

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RPC from page 29 To collect this data, Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (SNHPC) has purchased two Pyro Boxes, developed by the French company Eco Counter. This equipment uses infrared technology and a highprecision lens to detect sidewalk and trail users by their body temperature.

Bicycle and pedestrian counting is free of charge to municipalities that are members of their RPC and produces high-quality data that can be used to capture seasonal trends, plan for future bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure and even analyze event attendance. Results are then shared with stakeholders and the public. For example, in August 2020, the Town of Derry used SNHPC bicycle-pedestrian data to support improvements to the Town’s rail trail.

SNHPC staff had installed counters at two locations along the rail trail, which averaged around 563 people per day during the month of June.

The RPCs accept requests for counts all year long. SNHPC has made available an interactive map of past locations and data on its website at: https://www.snhpc.org/transportation/bicyclepedestrian/pages/bikepedestrian-counting-program

These tailored analyses help our communities see where potential growth can occur and how minor changes to regulations could stimulate growth.

This is important in decision making about land use and zoning regulations.

While these types of analyses have been available for quite some time at RPCs, we continue to evolve our visuals and maps to better engage the community and encourage an understanding of what solving the housing crisis in New Hampshire could look like. Engagement is key to community vitality and visioning. RPCs are using their extended skillsets to collect and analyze data, report findings, develop strategies, and present it to the general public in ways that can be understood through visuals, public outreach and various types of media.

Economic Development Planning Today more than ever, businesses and communities alike recognize that our local economy must be a nimble and ever-changing system to thrive.

Through economic development work RPCs aid businesses, industries and communities in adjusting to changing conditions by identifying projects, partners and funding opportunities that strengthen our economy based on

existing assets and needs. RPCs assist with project planning, grant identification and administration, connection to resources, and strengthening partnerships to improve New Hampshire’s economy.

In the case of Northumberland, North Country Council’s (NCC) work helped create redevelopment and marketing plans for a former paper mill site in order to reestablish the site as a hub for jobs and put the brownfield property back into productive use. NCC staff partnered with the community to identify a new strategic vision for the site and their community. Alongside local, state and federal partners, NCC worked to bring critical water and wastewater infrastructure to the property in order to realize a new future for the site as an industrial park, and attract growing markets and business tenants. Moving forward, NCC will be working within the region to develop an economic development recovery and resiliency plan as we continue to assess the impact of COVID-19 with support from the CARES Act.

Emergency Management Planning For over 20 years, NH’s RPCs have provided on-going support in assist-

Housing Build-Out and Suitability Analyses As housing continues to be an important need, RPCs have continued working on the frontlines to address the issues municipalities and regions face in regard to housing. For many years RPC’s have been addressing the housing issue through Housing Needs Assessments. With the expanding skillsets and talents of RPC staff and recent developments in GIS software, RPCs have grown to better support our communities through housing Build-Out and Suitability Analyses.

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Example of a downtown village where UVLSRPC staff used visuals and local regulations to show what adding housing could look like in this community.

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

www.nhmunicipal.org

ing municipalities in maintaining upto-date local emergency management plans. Hazard Mitigation Plans are designed to address impacts of natural and man-made hazards. Such plans reference past hazards and anticipate potential for future events such as susceptibility of low-lying areas to flooding or exposed slopes to landslides.

The plans identify and prioritize hazards and develop strategies to mitigate impacts such as right-sizing culverts to minimize road washouts and installing warning systems. Emergency Operations Plans focus on the chain of command and responsibilities relative to Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) including Transportation, Communications, Search and Rescue, and more.

These plans provide clarity regarding responsibilities for each of the ESFs in order to maintain continuity of operations during a time of emergency when public safety is at stake and tensions can run high.

Through a partnership involving NH Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, RPCs have trained staff that work with local committees comprised of those most familiar with local conditions. Furthermore, these plans are expected to be updated on a five-year basis in order to maintain a community’s eligibility for funding relief in the event of a disaster declaration.

Water Resource Planning In New Hampshire, there is a strong ethic toward protecting and maintaining clean potable water. We know that high water quality is not just an environmental and quality of life issue, but it is an essential component to our healthy economic development and land valuation. RPCs, like the Lakes Region Planning Commission (LRPC), provide a variety of assistance to communities on managing water quality. One way we do this is www.nhmunicipal.org

by competitively applying for federal Clean Water Act funding through the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. In the last several years, LRPC has assisted at least a half dozen communities in updating their source water protection zoning ordinances and maps. Many communities update their water sources over time, but forget to update their zoning overlay maps and district descriptions, which can lead to enforcement issues.

Another major way that RPCs assist communities and homeowner groups in maintaining high-quality water is through comprehensive watershed management plans and river management corridor studies. LRPC continues to work with partners to host an interactive Winnipesaukee Watershed Management Plan, and they recently assisted with the completion of the Squam Lakes Watershed Manage-

ment Plan. RPCs provide important outreach to community leaders, town planners and other important stakeholders, like the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. They provide mapping support, including build-out analyses, and assist with water quality testing protocols and coordination with state entities. There are many other additional ways that the RPCs can help your community with your water quality goals, and are always there to help.

Learn More Want to learn more about your regional planning commission and the services offered? Visit the NH Association of RPCs online at www.nharpc. org where you can read about services, find your region, and take a virtual tour of the RPCs.

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Virtual Town Meetings are More Efficient and Increase Participation

By Russ Dean, Exeter Town Manager

W

hile the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a test of the United States’ public health response capability, it has also been a time where City and Town governments have had to adjust and rethink their meeting structures in ways it never has before. One of the biggest adjustments has been the advent of “virtual meetings.” Under the Governor’s Executive Order #12, RSA 91-A, the Right to Know Law, was temporarily modified to allow for meetings without a physical location, so long as the public could access the meeting. As a result, Town of Exeter committees have been meeting via Zoom since the pandemic hit hard in mid-March. The quality of meetings has improved as the Town and committee members become more familiar with the software functionality. Typical facility needs, such as leaving buildings open late at night, additional utility costs, etc., have been avoided as a result of this change, which has allowed committee members and participants to “zoom in” from home, or wherever they are, to be present at the meeting. The quality of and participation in virtual meetings has improved via sharing screens and information to the point where it has become clear that this is a better, more efficient way of operating Town government meetings. As a result, the legislature should look seriously at amending RSA 91A in this legislative session to make this option permanent, as it provides several advantages. First, residents gain better access to public meetings, plain and simple.

This platform and method of meeting increases both participation and transparency, by allowing a greater segment of the population to participate. Second, virtual meetings are more sustainable. No getting your car, no burning of fossil fuels, no risk of overcrowding too small a meeting room in cramped conditions (plus no reason to have to build a larger meeting space), no paper packets, and no utility or facility costs to hold a virtual meeting. Third, virtual meetings increase participation. As one example, people with disabilities will have even greater access to meetings. In addition, virtual meetings have also allowed the ability to free up that preciously valuable commodity: time. The ability to “zoom in” from virtually anywhere minutes before a meeting alleviates the need to make the long drive home from work, pick up the kids, and then return 32

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to a facility for a meeting. Driving downtown at night in the middle of winter to attend a meeting with its inherent risks goes away. Citizens with children can now participate more effectively from home, instead of having to find childcare in order to physically attend a public meeting. This development in technology cannot be overemphasized in its potential to have broader volunteerism as well as participation in town government. Since Zoom and its companion programs are easy to use, and smartphones, laptops, tablets, webcams and microphones are easy to obtain, one can conveniently access any meeting they want, right from their home, where presumably people are most comfortable. Meeting links are conveniently found on every meeting agenda. There are significant advantages to this new meeting format. These technological advances not only set the stage for greater citizen participation in meetings, but also promise to diversify the citizenry that make up key Town Boards, Committees and Commissions. Flexibility is the solution that is needed in a time where people are busier than ever before. While it’s a shame a pandemic had to trigger this change, it has happened, and thus presents a great opportunity for legislative action to make this meeting format permanent, and change our government for better, for the long term. All the normal items could still be required. Minutes, access to records, and meeting posting requirements would not change (all of these are now able to be provided remotely, as well).

Statutorily, all that would change would be the requirement for a physical location for meetings. If someone couldn’t access a meeting, they could contact the Town or City Meeting Host and the meeting could be adjourned – to my knowledge this has not happened in over 150 public Zoom meetings in Exeter.

In closing, by making this change now, which would require a minor markup to RSA 91A, we can create a better, more efficient, more sustainable State, City, and Town government at all levels, and increase volunteer and citizen participation in our government. Once every City and Town in New Hampshire implements this change, they will see the instant benefits it brings, for the good of all.

Russ Dean is the town manager of Exeter. www.nhmunicipal.org

2021 Town & School Virtual Moderators Workshops 2021 Moderators Workshops Workshops 2021 Town 2021 Town Town & & School School Virtual Virtual Moderators Workshops Beginner & Advanced Training Provided!

Beginner & Advanced Provided!

Beginner Training Beginner & Advanced Training Provided!

Provided!

SB 2 SB 22 Meeting Meeting SB SB 9:00 amMeeting - 2:00 pm

Traditional Meeting Traditional Meeting Meeting Traditional Meeting 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

9:00 2:00 9:00 am 9:00 am am --January 2:00 pm pm9 Saturday, Saturday, January Saturday, Saturday, January 9 9

9:00 am am -- 2:00 2:00 pm pm 9:00 2:00 pm Saturday, February 6 February 6 Saturday, Saturday, February February 66

Both workshops will use aa virtual, online presentation format, Both workshops will use virtual, format, Both workshops online presentation format, Bothwhere workshops will use a virtual, online presentation format, you can attend from the comfort of your home. where where where you you can can attend attend from from the the comfort comfort of of your your home. home.

Topics include: Topics Topics include: include:

How to Run an Annual Meeting During a Pandemic: How How to Run an Annual Meeting How to to Run Run an an Annual Annual Meeting Meeting During During a a Pandemic: Pandemic:

How to run a virtual annual meeting in a pandemic using HB 1129, which will address when and how to run a Howto to run run aa virtual virtual annual annual meeting meeting in a pandemic using HB 1129, which will address How address when when and and how how to to run run aaa How toseries run aofvirtual annual sessions meeting by in athe pandemic using HBand 1129, which will address when and how to run virtual information governing body then conducting a drive up voting session as a virtualseries series of of information information sessions sessions by the governing body and then conducting aa drive up voting session as virtual conducting drive up voting session asaaa virtual series of information sessions by the then conducting a driveAlso, up voting as substitute for an SB 2 Deliberative session orgoverning traditionalbody townand meeting business session. whensession and how to substitute for for an an SB SB 22 Deliberative Deliberative session or traditional town meeting business session.

Also, when and how to substitute session.

Also, when and how to substitute an SB 2 meeting Deliberative session or traditional meeting business session.

Also, when and how to conduct anfor in-person annual meeting while stilltown complying with CDC social distancing guidelines and conduct an an in-person in-person meeting meeting annual annual meeting while still complying with CDC social distancing guidelines and conduct social distancing guidelines and conduct an in-person meeting meeting while still complying with CDC social distancing guidelines and State of New Hampshire maskannual wearing mandates.

Stateof of New Hampshire Hampshire mask wearing wearing State State of New New Hampshire mask mask wearing mandates. mandates.

The Basic Law of Town, Village District and School District Meeting: The Basic Law of Town, The The Basic Basic Law Law of of Town, Town, Village Village District District and and School School District District Meeting: Meeting:

In addition to these pandemic related topics, these workshops will also address the statutes governing the modInaddition addition to to these these pandemic pandemic related related topics, these workshops will also address the In the statutes statutes governing governing the the modmodIn addition to these pandemic related topics, thesedistrict workshops will also statutes governing the moderator’s school meetings, andaddress electionsthe will be discussed discussed along with erator’s duties duties at at town, town, village village district district and meetings, and elections will be along with erator’s duties at town, village district and school district elections will be discussed along with erator’s duties atwarrant town, village district and school district meetings, elections will be discussed alongand with issues ballotand voting, polling place management, othissuesrelated related to to warrant warrant articles, articles, the the operating operating budget, budget, secret secret ballot voting, polling issues related to articles, the polling place place management, management, and and othothissues related to issues. warrantThese articles, the operating budget, secret ballot voting,sessions polling place management, and other town meeting topics will be addressed in two concurrent tailored for new and experiertown town meeting meeting issues. issues. These These topics topics will be addressed in two concurrent sessions er sessions tailored tailored for for new new and and experiexperier town meeting issues.

These topics will be addressed in two concurrent sessions tailored for new and experienced devoted to questions and and answers. answers. enced moderators. moderators. Ample Ample time time will will be enced enced moderators. moderators. Ample Ample time time will will be be devoted devoted to to questions questions and answers.

Strategies for Running a Smooth Meeting: Strategies for Running Strategies Strategies for for Running Running aa a Smooth Smooth Meeting: Meeting:

Moderators keeping meetings focused focused and and fair fair to to all all participants, participants, while while effeceffecModerators are are faced faced with with aaa challenging challenging task: Moderators are with task: keeping meetings fair to to all all participants, participants, while while effeceffecModerators are faced faced withofa challenging challenging task: keeping meetingssuggested focused and fair tively facilitating the flow debate.

This session will highlight strategies for running respectful and tivelyfacilitating facilitating the the flow flow of of debate. debate. This session will highlight suggested strategies for running respectful and tively strategies for running respectful and tively facilitating the flow of debate.

This session will highlight suggested strategies for running respectful and efficient meetings, and polling places. efficient meetings, meetings, and and polling polling places. places. efficient efficient meetings, and polling places.

Sample Scenarios Sample Scenarios Sample Sample Scenarios Scenarios

A wide range range of of meeting meeting challenges. challenges.

Aseries series of of sample sample scenarios scenarios will will help help attendees attendees prepare prepare for for aaa wide A wide range range of of meeting meeting challenges. challenges.

Aseries series of of sample sample scenarios scenarios will will help help attendees attendees prepare prepare for for a wide

Attendees receive a copy of NHMA’s 2020-2021 edition of Town Meeting and School Attendees receive Attendees edition of of Town Meeting and and School School Attendees receive receive a copy of NHMA’s 2020-2021 edition Town Meeting Meeting and School Meeting Handbook along with a copy of the 2021 Supplement!

Meeting Handbook along along with with aa copy Meeting copy of of the the 2021 2021 Supplement!

Supplement!

Meeting Handbook Supplement!

Register online at www.nhmunicipal.org under CALENDAR OF EVENTS. Register online at www.nhmunicipal.org under Register CALENDAR OF OF EVENTS. EVENTS. Register online online at at www.nhmunicipal.org under CALENDAR CALENDAR OF EVENTS. Online pre-registration required one week prior to each date.

Online pre-registration required one week prior to each date.

Online pre-registration required one week prior to each date.

Online pre-registration to each date.

Questions?

Call 800.852.3358, ext.

3350 or email Questions?

Call 800.852.3358, ext.

3350 or email Questions?

Call 800.852.3358, ext.

3350 or email Questions? email NHMAregistrations@nhmunicipal.org NHMAregistrations@nhmunicipal.org www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

33

2021 Legislative Outlook: Foggy with Storm Clouds

By Cordell Johnston, Government Affairs Counsel New Hampshire’s 2021 legislative session begins with “Convening Day” on January 6, when the House and the Senate will each meet to attend to some basic administrative matters.

Committee hearings on what are expected to be 800 to 1,000 bills presumably will begin the second or third week in January.

And that is about all we know. For a couple reasons, the 2021 legislative session is the most unpredictable in years; all we really know is that it is going to be different, and it is going to be challenging.

First, the coronavirus is going to make committee hearings and House and Senate sessions very difficult. As this article goes to print in mid-December, we know that Senate committee hearings are going to be held “virtually,” at least at the beginning.

The plan for House hearings is less clear, although it is hard to imagine how House committees can meet in person. The use of Representatives’ Hall—where the entire 400-member house meets—for committee hearings has been mentioned, but the House has about 20 committees, and as many as 15 of them could be meeting at any given time. They can’t all meet in Representatives’ Hall. (It’s unlikely that even two committees could meet there at the same time.) We will have to wait to see how this is resolved, but one thing that seems likely is that hearings will be spread out more widely throughout the week, not confined to two or three days, as is traditional.

The other major element of unpredictability is the Republican takeover of both chambers of the legislature. That in itself is not unusual—party control of the House has changed in six of the last seven elections, and control of the Senate has changed in four of those seven. The difference is that this year the number of new representatives seems unusually large, and many of the new Republicans in the House are aligned with the “freedom caucus” that favors a libertarian-leaning agenda. It seems likely that policy disagreements will occur not only between Democrats and Republicans, but between factions within the parties and between the House and the Senate. We have already seen this in the short-lived effort by seven House Republicans to launch an impeachment investigation against the Republican governor and the filing of bills that would end the current state of emergency and limit the governor’s emergency authority.

As in any odd-numbered year, the biennial state budget will dominate legislative activity in 2021, and NHMA will be paying careful attention. We will try to ensure that municipali34

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

ties receive at least as much meals and rooms tax revenue as in recent years. (Under the law that the legislature keeps suspending, municipalities are supposed to be getting much more.) We will also pursue continued funding for state aid grants to municipalities for water and wastewater projects, and will watch for any efforts to trim highway block grants.

As for non-budget matters, the LSR (legislative service request) titles we have seen lead us to expect a lot of anti-local government legislation, particularly efforts to limit local authority and to micro-manage municipal processes. It is difficult to know what a bill does until its language is published, but the titles suggest that towns and cities will be playing a lot of defense this year. Among many other things, there are bills that tell municipalities how to prepare their budgets, that restrict local regulation of town-owned property, and that limit how much money municipalities can raise. We should know more

by January 6, when we present our Legislative Preview webinar, which you can register for on the NHMA website.

Probably more than at any other time in recent memory, it will be essential this year that municipal officials communicate regularly with their representatives and senators. It is going to be a chaotic and contentious year, and NHMA’s staff will be stretched thin to cover everything. Moreover, as we say regularly, legislators pay more attention to their local officials than they do to us as lobbyists.

Some legislators have significant local government experience and a deep understanding of their cities’ and towns’ needs, but many do not. It is important to educate them on why municipalities function the way they do, and that is best done by those who are involved in local government every day.

It is also important that you as municipal officials establish a connection with your legislators before you need to talk to them about a specific bill, so you won’t be making a “cold call” when there is an urgent need to defeat a bad bill (or, optimistically, to pass a good one). We strongly recommend that your municipality’s governing body meet with your legislative delegation in January—and regularly after that—to emphasize your concerns and remind them that they represent the same people you do.

As always, if you have any questions about legislative matters, contact NHMA’s government affairs staff at 224-7447 or governmentaffairs@nhmunicipal.org. www.nhmunicipal.org

2021 Legislative Series Three Webinars and a Final Update Get Insider Perspectives from NHMA Staff

2021 State Legislative Preview:

12:00 noon—1:00 pm Wednesday, January 6, 2021 2021 Half-Time Report:

April Webinar

2021 Legislative Wrap-up:

May or June Webinar

2021 Final Legislative Update: November 17 or 18, 2021 NHMA Annual Conference DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown Hotel, Manchester

The 167th session of the New Hampshire General Court begins in January.

Help your municipality plan an active and consistent role in NHMA’s efforts by participating in the 2021 Legislative Series Webinars and a Final Update. www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

35

Tech

Insights

By Joe Howland, VC3

A 2021 Cybersecurity Checklist: How Do You Rate Your Organization?

Y

ou know cybersecurity is important. You hear about ransomware, viruses, and cyberattacks nearly every day. And you sense that your current cybersecurity defenses may not defend you in case the worst happens.

Yet, it can be so easy to put off improving cybersecurity. Why? Often, it’s difficult to know where you should begin.

As a way to start building a plan, use this cybersecurity checklist to rate your organization. It will take you through foundational items, advanced items, and long-term cybersecurity strategies—and explain why each is important.

Rank each item: • Yes (I am confident my organization has addressed this item.)

• No (My organization needs to address this item.)

• Don’t Know (I am not sure if my organization has addressed this item.)

Obviously, you want more items in the “yes” category than in the “no” or “don’t know” categories! The important thing is that you identify cybersecurity gaps so that you have a list of items to remedy by level of importance.

Foundational Items 1. Data backup and disaster recovery To ensure you can recover data after a successful cyberattack, your data backup and disaster recovery need an onsite component (for quick recovery in case of a server failure or similar incident), an offsite component (in case of a severe cyberattack such as ransomware), and a testing component (to ensure that you can actually recover your data after an incident).

2. Antivirus Antivirus software is one of the most basic tools of a cybersecurity defense. It’s likely you have some sort of antivirus software, but it’s important you use an enterprise-grade rather than a consumer-grade version.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

3. Antispam / email filtering Basic antispam and email filtering tools make sure that most junk email—including many potential phishing email messages that could trick employees into downloading a virus or giving away sensitive and confidential information— never gets to your employee’s inbox.

4. Software patching Many devastating cyberattacks have been successful simply because organizations do not patch software vulnerabilities. Operating system and application vendors regularly provide software patches that shore up security vulnerabilities. Applying these patches is an essential part of a cybersecurity strategy.

5. Firewalls Appropriately configured firewalls block most malicious website traffic.

6. Monitoring and alerting It’s important that experienced IT professionals monitor your systems and provide you security notifications when something seems wrong. This way, you start to proactively get ahead of security issues.

7. Password policy Organizations need to create a policy that enforces the use of strong passwords or passphrases and the use of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), as many cyberattacks succeed when criminals hack weak passwords.

8. Encryption Encryption of backup data, emails, files, and other important information ensures that unauthorized users cannot read this data if they steal or hack into it.

9. Secure connection for remote employees If someone remotely accesses your organization’s data, you need a VPN or secure browser to make sure the connection does not expose you to cyberattacks. This is especially important when employees use a poorly secured wi-fi connection (such as public wi-fi) or a home network that’s not secured properly. www.nhmunicipal.org

10. Secured wi-fi access points Many cyberattackers take advantage of an organization’s unsecured wi-fi access points to enter your network. Wireless routers need proper setup and configuration to ensure they are secure.

11. Secured website Whether cybercriminals deface websites or hack into them as a way into your network, they are an easy target.

It’s important to use a trusted hosting provider and secure services (such as online payments).

12. Physical security Often overlooked in a cybersecurity strategy, physical security is important—including everything from properly escorting guests to locking rooms containing servers and computers.

13. Employee training Despite the best cybersecurity defenses, an employee tricked by a phishing email or malicious website can allow a virus

16. Security scanning Regular security scans of your systems help identify vulnerabilities and holes that you can then fix.

into your network. Periodic employee training helps teach them how to detect and avoid common cyber threats.

14. IT asset inventory An IT asset inventory is important to cybersecurity. If you don’t know how many servers and computers you have, and where they are, then how do you know they are secure and out of unauthorized hands?

17. Enterprise-grade email Enterprise-grade email offers much better security than consumer-grade email, which is not recommended for organizations. IT professionals can also better manage and secure your enterprise-grade email.

Advanced Items

18. Malware and content filtering Special tools can detect and filter out malware while also placing restrictions on what internet content employees can access. This helps prevent them from downloading malicious files and software.

Once your security foundation is established, the following items begin to enhance your strategy.

15. Intrusion detection and prevention As a more advanced form of basic monitoring and alerting, intrusion detection and prevention tools work with your firewall to detect and prevent attacks related to specific vulnerabilities—often automatically stopping such attacks.

19. Dark Web monitoring The Dark Web allows for anonymous browsing with specialized software.

Many use the Dark Web for illicit and illegal activity. IT professionals can

Basic Loan Requirements: • Bond issue approved by governmental entity

The Bond Bank’s Next Bond Issue will be on July 13, 2021 July 2020 Bond Sale Results True Interest Cost for: 5 year loans 10 year loans 15 year loans 20 year loans 25 year loans

.57% .86% 1.37% 1.67% 1.97%

Are you planning a capital project for 2021?

• Audit by CPA firm

We can assist you with your planning by providing various scenarios based on level debt or level principal payments for different terms. Contact us now for your estimated debt schedules.

To schedule a meeting, obtain debt service schedules, or for details about our schedule, fees, Bond Anticipation Note programs, and current interest rates, please contact Tammy J. St. Gelais, Executive Director, at tstgelais@nhmbb.com. Visit our website at www.nhmbb.org.

www.nhmunicipal.org

• Completed application approved by Bond Bank Board

• Local bond counsel opinion

Bond Bank Team: Jill McNeil, Gail Egounis, Tammy St. Gelais

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

37

TECH INSIGHTS from page 37 monitor the Dark Web in case account credentials (such as administrative passwords) or stolen customer information appears on the black market.

20. Policies Setting information security policies will help you enforce cybersecurity across your organization. Policies include: • General controls: Your organization needs policies for contract / vendor management, network security, wireless network security, physical access security, logical access security (which includes user authentication), and disaster recovery / business continuity.

• Application controls: These policies help you with data processing along with security, configuration, and contingency planning related to applications.

• Decommissioning and disposing of data and equipment: Deleting data sometimes doesn’t mean it’s really deleted, and equipment thrown away may still have data on it. You need policies that detail how you decommission and dispose of your equipment and the data on it.

• Employee screening and background checks: This policy may seem unrelated to cybersecurity, but strong employee screening and background checks lessen the chance of hiring a criminal or disgruntled employee who will attack your organization from the inside.

• Social media: A social media platform offers cyberattackers administrative credentials and the potential to embarrass your organization, similar to defacing your website. Creating a social media policy around access and use will help lessen this type of cyberattack.

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Long-Term Strategy Once your foundation and advanced strategy are in place, there are several steps you can take to make sure that your cybersecurity remains strong into the future.

21. Modernized and upgraded software Newer software is more secure than aging software, which vendors sometimes no longer support. It’s important to keep your operating systems and applications modern and upgraded.

22. Modernized and upgraded hardware The same reasoning applies to hardware—keep it modern and upgraded.

Old, aging hardware contains more security vulnerabilities than newer hardware.

23. Incident response planning Developing a plan detailing how you respond to a cyberattack will help you react to an incident with “muscle memory”—rather like a fire drill. Your team will know exactly what to do.

24. Network segmentation You may decide to segment and separate certain parts of your network from other parts. This way, for example, if ransomware were to infect one department’s servers, the virus would not be able to infect another department.

25. Mobile strategy Many employees may access your organization’s data through their smartphones, tablets, and laptops. If so, you need a mobile security strategy— whether it’s issuing work-only devices to employees or providing secure access to sensitive and confidential data if they use a personal device.

26. Compliance strategy Depending on the laws and regulations you must follow, security and compliance often go hand in hand.

Developing a compliance strategy will require you to stay on top of security

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

measures related to data breach notification, data privacy, and other important areas.

27. Cyber liability insurance Improving your security foundation will help you lower cyber liability insurance premiums. If you don’t have cyber liability insurance, it’s a good idea to acquire some—as it will help offset the expensive costs of a cyberattack’s aftermath.

28. Periodic security assessments Security and technology change rapidly. Assessing your organization’s security periodically (such as annually) will uncover new gaps and vulnerabilities, allowing you to stay ahead of a cyberattack.

About Joe Howland Joe has been in the IT industry for over 20 years and has extensive IT management experience that spans multiple industries. A UCLA grad with a degree in Mathematics Computation with a Computer Specialization, he worked with Computer Sciences Corporation for 10 years supporting defense and financial sector contracts. Joe joined VC3 in 2009 and during his time with VC3, Joe has performed in the role of Virtual CIO for some of VC3’s largest government customers. Joe is currently VC3’s Chief Information Security Officer and is responsible for VC3’s IT security as well as advising on security for VC3’s customers.

About VC3 VC3 is a leading managed services provider focused on municipal government.

Founded in 1994 with offices across the east coast, VC3 forms partnerships with municipalities to achieve their technology goals and harness their data. In addition to providing comprehensive managed IT solutions, VC3 offers cybersecurity, website design, custom application development, and business intelligence services.

Visit www.vc3.com to learn more.

www.nhmunicipal.org

VIRTUAL EVENT ON TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2021 This event will be held virtually on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. It will be focused on local government leaders to include City Mayors and Managers, Town Administrators, School Superintendents and Business Administrators, IT Directors, Boards of Selectman and similar governing bodies, as well as State of New Hampshire entities.

A general overview of the event includes highlighting the challenges of modern day cybersecurity attacks, a keynote from CISA leadership (speaker TBD), current law enforcement trends, two in-state examples of cyber-attack (City of Nashua and City of Franklin), and a panel focused on preparation for potential attacks (Incident Response Plans, Disaster Recovery Plans, organizational assessments, and policy/procedural best practices).

Watch for online registration at nhprimex.org

www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

39

Legal

Q and A Practical Considerations for Conducting a Successful Optional Annual Meeting Under HB 1129

By Matt Upton, Esquire, Drummond Woodsum Virtual Sessions of the Remote Annual Meeting • The process that will be used for the Optional Annual Meeting must be clearly set forth and widely available to the public. The process must be clear, understandable and followed.

• At least seven (7) days prior to the informational session, notice shall be mailed to all registered voters describing the process to be used for the Option Annual Meeting.

• The information session of the Optional Annual Meeting is conducted virtually and should be live streamed and accessible by phone and/or electronically. The information session should be dedicated to thoroughly discussing the process and the warrant articles contained on the posted warrant.

• Between the information session and the virtual meeting, the public should be given as many means as possible to communicate their thoughts with the governing body on the articles posted on the warrant. Email, text, regular mail and telephone. The virtual meeting must be held within seven (7) days of the informational session.

• The public should be told that their names and the content of the communications will be shared publicly at the virtual meeting. The public should be encouraged to be brief and to the point.

• The public should be told that in the interest of time the Board reserves the right to summarize communications if they are longer than 100 words.

• At the virtual meeting, all communications should be read publicly including the sender’s name. Supervisors of the check list should confirm eligibility.

• After all the communications are read at the virtual meeting, the governing body should take up each article one by one with either a motion to move the article to the 40

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

alternative ballot as printed or to amend the article as deemed appropriate.

• Articles that are on the posted warrant cannot be withdrawn but any amount of money to be appropriated can be amended to zero.

• The governing body should understand that the success in getting the public to approve the Option Annual Meeting process is directly proportional to the extent that the governing body’s actions at the virtual meeting represent the sentiments and expectations of the community.

• Large ticket items and building projects overall have not supported in past Optional Annual Meetings. Consider putting off such projects until traditional in-person voting can occur • Once the warrant is in its final form it should be posted on the website and made widely available to the public.

Consider another public mailing with the final warrant and specific instructions for drive-through voting including staggered arrival times.

Alternative Ballot • The alternative ballot is a separate and distinct document from the warrant.

• If there is a bond on the warrant in excess of $100,000 it must appear first on the warrant as required by RSA 33:8-a.

• Since the alternative ballot is different than the warrant, the first question on the alternative ballot asks the voters if they approve of the Option Annual Meeting process as required by HB 1129.

• Numbering the articles should track the warrant to avoid confusion. Thus, the first question asking the voters to approve the process either should not be numbered or should be numbered 1-a. www.nhmunicipal.org

• The warrant should not include the question asking the voters to approve the process.

• At a minimum, the questions on the ballot should ask the voters if they approve of the specific warrant article as set forth on the final warrant and should include any amount of money to be appropriated.

• The alternative ballot can be posted on the website but voters should be told they will be given a formal ballot at the polling location. The formal ballot should be easily distinguishable from anything being brought from home. Consider blue or yellow paper.

• Voters are not allowed to cast ballots filled out at home.

Drive Through Voting • Expect heavier turnout than have historically been experienced at a conventional meeting.

• Pick a location that can safely allow for a long line of cars.

• As voters arrive at the polling location, they are instructed to push their identification against the window glass. A poll worker reads off the name and a supervisor of the checklist acknowledges eligibility and a small sheet of paper with the number of voters in the car is put under the windshield wiper. This can also be done verbally if there is a single line used to check in the voters.

• A poll worker that is located 15-20 feet forward of where the voters are checked in reads the number on the slip of paper under the windshield and places the requisite number of ballots on a table where they are retrieved by the driver. Handing the ballots is acceptable with proper PPE.

www.nhmunicipal.org

• The voter(s) moves forward to where the ballot box is and fills out the ballot(s). A poll worker should be stationed at the ballot box to ensure only the formal ballots are put into the ballot box.

This is not a legal document nor is it intended to serve as legal advice or a legal opinion. Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon, P.A. makes no representations that this is a complete or final description or procedure that would ensure legal compliance and does not intend that the reader should rely on it as such.© 2020 Drummond Woodsum. All rights expressly reserved.

If you’re not getting it, you’re not getting it.

Don’t be caught without it!

NewsLink gives you all the latest information on upcoming workshops, webinars and other training events.

• Depending on the number of anticipated voters, multiple check-in lines and ballot boxes may be necessary.

• Voters should be encouraged to arrive at the polling place at designated time periods that have been assigned alphabetically. Nobody should be turned away.

• A copy of the final warrant should also be provided with the ballot.

The E-newsletter of the New Hampshire Municipal Association

This bi-weekly electronic newsletter is the most comprehensive resource for local government officials in New Hampshire.

To get all the news you can’t afford to miss, subscribe to NewsLink at www.nhmunicipal.org.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

41

?

THAT

Name the city or town in which this town hall resides.

According to Wikipedia, the town was first settled by Europeans in 1657 and established as a town on January 16, 1766 by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth. It was among the last of 129 towns to receive a charter during his administration. This town hall is listed on the New Hampshire Register of Historic Places.

OR

When you have figured out the answer, email it to tfortier@nhmunicipal.org.

The answer will appear in the March/April 2021 issue.

?

NAME TOWN

CITY

? ?

?

?

? ?

?

42

?

ANSWER TO PHOTO IN THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER ISSUE: The photo on page 47 in the last issue of New Hampshire Town and City magazine is of the Old Meeting House in the Town of Webster.

Special thanks to Scott Bugbee, selectman in the Town of Lee, who shared these photos below and this short story. In 2016, the Town of Lee borrowed from Weare a pair of “bummer wheels” in order to transport the town’s “Mast Tree” in its semiquincentennial parade. Scott describes the Old Meeting House as “a wonderful old building with an upper floor for large meetings and a nice museum on the Town of Lee volunteers pose in front of a pair of “bummer ground floor with lots of inter- wheels” behind the Old Meeting House in the Town of Webster. esting old items.”

Thanks to Marshall A. Buttrick (Greenville), Ron Fontaine and Ashlee Crosby (Swanzey), Dana Hadley (Webster) and Bill Herman (Auburn) for contacting us with the correct response.

Extra special thanks to Scott Bugbee (Lee) for this followup story and photographs.

NEW HAMPSHIRE TOWN AND CITY

In a test run, oxen pull the Mast Tree using the bummer wheels.

www.nhmunicipal.org

3

Your Partner — Always We’re here for you.

In addition to offering comprehensive coverage and risk management training, Primex3 consultants are always available to help you navigate challenges – including Human Resource and Legal matters, Cyber Security concerns, and much more.

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www.nhmunicipal.org

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

43

The

HR

REPORT

Sanbornize It!

Michael Buescher, Esq. and Anna Cole, Esq. Despite the ongoing pandemic, as the days grow shorter, and the nights longer, labor contract negotiations for public employers are in full swing. Although the physical format of those negotiations may look different in these unique times, our obligations to follow certain processes and procedures pursuant to New Hampshire’s Public Employee Labor Relations Act, RSA 273-A (the “Act”) remain.

former method is permissible, municipalities that seek to approve the cost items in a multi-year agreement in each year of the contract risks having the contract disrupted mid-term if the legislative body unexpectedly votes down the cost items. Therefore, the latter method, in which the anticipated costs for all years of the agreement are presented all at once is widely preferred by both employers and labor unions.

In the coming months, many of New Hampshire’s towns and cities will likely reach tentative agreements with labor unions that will include future “cost items,” such as wages and benefits. The Act defines “cost item” to mean “any benefit acquired through collective bargaining whose implementation requires an appropriation by the legislative body of the public employer with which negotiations are being conducted.” RSA 273-A:1, IV. As towns and cities begin to plan for upcoming annual budget meetings, in whatever format is appropriate, they must still ensure that all “cost items” are properly submitted for approval at the annual meeting in order for any negotiated agreement to become final and binding on the parties.

RSA 273-A:3:II.

Under this method, so long as the legislative body is properly warned of the anticipated cost of the subsequent contract years and nonetheless agrees to appropriate money to fund the cost items in the first year of the contract, the subsequent years’ cost items need not be separately submitted to the legislative body each year. Instead, while the contract remains in effect, the cost of the subsequent years can be included in the employer’s general warrant.

This notification/warning is commonly referred to as “Sanbornizing” the contract, after the seminal Supreme Court case addressing the matter. See Appeal of the Sanborn Reg’l Sch. Bd., 133 N.H. 513, 522 (1990). In that case, the Court established that:

Pursuant to the Act, submission of cost items to the appropriate legislative body is a mandatory step in the contract negotiation process. In Appeal of Prof ’l Firefighters of Hudson, the Supreme Court held that “[t]he parties to a CBA are not bound by its cost items unless the legislative body ratifies them, which occurs only if the legislative body approves them with ‘full knowledge of their terms.’” 167 N.H. 46, 52 (2014). What this means is that, for multi-year collective bargaining agreement to be fully enforceable, the employer must either present the relevant cost items to the legislative body on an annual basis, or in the alternative, present the anticipated costs of each year covered by the agreement to the legislative body first considering the tentative agreement. While the 44

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In order to submit a cost item for review by a school district meeting, the warrant for that meeting must describe the item with enough clarity to apprise the voters of what will be the subject of the meeting. Submission to a school district meeting, therefore, of a proposal to provide salary increases must be warned by a warrant article sufficient to indicate plainly that action may be taken on such matters at the place and time stated.

[Applying this reasoning, h]ad the articles of the warrant detailed the financial terms of the first, second, and third years of the collective bargaining agreement, even though the voters appropriated only the funds for the first year, such a vote could bind the district to fund all three years of the agreement.

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Lastly, keep in mind that an automatic renewal (or “evergreen”) clause in a CBA that purports to continue the terms of the contract indefinitely until the parties negotiate, and the legislative body ratifies, a successor contract, is considered a cost item. Appeal of Milton Sch. Dist., 137 N.H. 240, 243 (1993). Accordingly, in order to ensure the legislative body has “full knowledge” of the terms of the negotiated CBA that includes such a clause, the employer should also explicitly notify the legislative body that the contract includes the automatic renewal clause and the anticipated costs that would result from exercise of that provision. Id. at 243-44. If an evergreen clause is not Sanbornized, it will be unen-

forceable at the expiration of the negotiated agreement. See, e.g., Appeal of Alton Sch. Dist., 140 N.H. 303, 307 (1995) (“An automatic renewal clause is a cost item and it therefore does not bind the parties unless it has been ratified by the legislative body.” (internal citations omitted)); Milton Sch. Dist., 137 at 244 (refusing to enforce automatic renewal clause where it was not submitted to the legislative body with other cost items).

As we all continue to work together to navigate the uncertain waters of this pandemic, it is even more important to make sure all cost items contained in negotiated agreements are properly presented. Or to invoke

the late great Peter Tosh, “Sanbornize it!” This will ensure proper ratification of all negotiated agreements, provide effective notice to legislative bodies of their upcoming financial obligations, and promote productive labor relations by ensuring that public employers can following through on their contractual obligations.

This is not a legal document nor is it intended to serve as legal advice or a legal opinion. Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon, P.A. makes no representations that this is a complete or final description or procedure that would ensure legal compliance and does not intend that the reader should rely on it as such.

Employment Law Hotline A Free Service to NHMA Members Drummond Woodsum labor law attorneys are available to provide legal advice on matters including Title VII, Family Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, employee discipline, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and age, sex and race-based discrimination.

The Employment Law Hotline is available at no charge and Drummond Woodsum labor law attorneys will provide up to 1/2 hour of FREE legal advice per employment issue.

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Before you act, call 603.623.2500 or email at ehotline@dwmlaw.com.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021

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Court

Update

By Stephen C. Buckley, Legal Services Counsel and Natch Greyes, Municipal Services Counsel

Now available online:

OCTOBER Police Department Internal Affairs Reports Required to be Disclosed Under the Right-to-Know Law Even When the Underlying Allegations of Police Officer Misconduct are Unfounded, Samuel Provenza v. Town of Canaan, Grafton County Superior Case No. 215-2020-CV-155, 12/02/2020 The Exculpatory Evidence Schedule (a/k/a Laurie List) is Not Exempt from Disclosure as Police Personnel File under RSA 105:13-b, Nor is it Exempt Internal Personnel Practice, but Might be Exempt Since Disclosure Would Constitute Invasion of Privacy, New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism v. NH Dept. of Justice., New Hampshire Supreme Court Docket No. 2019-0279, 10/31/2020 Secretary of State Shall Forward Absentee Voter Registration Forms Directly to Applicants and No Longer Refer Voters to City or Town Clerks, American Federation of Teachers v. Gardner, Hillsborough County Superior - Northern District Case No. 216-2020-CV-0507, 10/02/2020 The following are additional 2020 Court Updates recently posted on NHMA’s website (www.nhmunicipal.org/court-updates):

JULY An Unspent Annual Appropriation Will Lapse Unless Those Funds are Encumbered by a Legally Enforceable Obligation that Attaches to the Funds Before the End of the Fiscal Year, Monadnock Regional School District v. Monadnock District Education Assoc., New Hampshire Supreme Court Docket No. 2019-0134, 07/08/2020

JUNE Objective Testimony from Residents, Combined with Personal Knowledge of Observable Facts

by Board Members Can Refute Expert Opinions, Three Ponds Resort, LLC v. Town of Milton, New Hampshire Supreme Court Docket No. 2019-0278, 06/03/2020

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2021 Legislative Preview: Get Ready to Advocate!

Wednesday, January 6, 2021 12:00 noon—1:00 pm

Upcoming Webinars

Despite facing a pandemic that is far from resolved, the New Hampshire General Court begins not only wrestling with hundreds of bills but also deciding how best to conduct in-person and/or remote hearings. It’s also the time of year when legislators need to hear from local officials about the concerns of municipalities.

Join Executive Director Margaret Byrnes, Government Affairs Counsel Cordell Johnston, Government Finance Advisor Becky Benvenuti, and MuNHMA will be hosting two webinars in nicipal Services Counsel Natch Greyes for a look at January for members of the New Hampshire what the 2021 legislative session has in store for Municipal Association. cities and towns.

Municipal State Aid & Revenue Sharing: An In Depth Review

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 12:00 noon —1:00 pm As we continue to battle the unprecedented pandemic, the state begins preparing its biennium budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, and state agencies have already submitted budgets which include significant cuts to programs and operations requested by the Governor. Towns and cities are also preparing their budgets and bracing for cuts to revenue sharing and state aid in amounts yet unknown—and all the while, continuing to prepare for providing essential public services, including unanticipated COVID-related mitigation expenses.

For details and registration information, visit www.nhmunicipal.org under Calendar of Events

Join Government Finance Advisor Becky Benvenuti as she reviews the various types of state revenues shared with municipalities as well as critical state aid proQuestions? Call 603.224.7447 or email NHMAregis- grams for public infrastructure improvements such as trations@nhmunicipal.org. municipal drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities, highway maintenance and bridge repairs. In addition, Becky will provide an overview of state revenue sharing and aid which has been suspended or discontinued in the past 10+ years.

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