best practices

One of NHMA’s major initiatives for 2024 is establishing a strategic plan to guide the organization’s direction over the next several years. According to the NH Center for Nonprofits, strategic planning is “big picture thinking” about the direction the organization is taking and the way it is fulfilling its mission. Often, specific goals, objectives, strategies, and resources are included in the strategic plan as a means to deliver on the mission, and the perspective of a broad range of stakeholders is often included.

It is generally understood that a municipal official who has a conflict of interest in a specific situation is not supposed to participate in that matter.  What is less understood is how this process works and what is at stake in making that decision.

What is Recusal?

April snowstorms aside, it really is spring in New Hampshire! In addition to being the season of mud and daffodils, it's also a time when many newly elected or appointed local officials are learning the ropes. For NHMA, that means it's one of our busiest training seasons—and we hope you can join us at one our training events over the next couple months, including:

Twice as many cyberattacks on local governments were recorded last year over the previous year.  Several causes, including the increased sophistication of hackers, the widespread adoption of cloud computing by governments, and a dearth of investment, resources, and knowledge in cybersecurity on the part of many local governments, certainly account for the uptick in incidents.

 There are many forms and vectors of Cyber Attacks.

I.  Advanced Preparation is Critical!

Experienced moderators know that they are but one person, and that the cooperation and assistance of many other persons is needed to plan, prepare, and conduct the deliberative session or business meeting of a municipality. Consider the roles that others perform:

A. Creating the Municipal Budget and Related Warrant Articles

What Day of the Week to Hold the Deliberative Session?

For those towns that have adopted RSA 39:2-a, and therefore employ the official ballot to elect officers and vote on other specified matters to be addressed by official ballot, the select board must choose another day for the second or business session of the town meeting.

Some call it the Law of More, or Taj Mahal syndrome.

It’s the perception that proposed municipal projects—like a new public safety complex or town hall—are inordinately lavish or contain features above and beyond what’s necessary to service a community. New city halls and public safety complexes sometimes draw criticism from residents and officials worried about cost. Many existing municipal buildings in New Hampshire aren’t designed to accommodate 21st century needs, and as time passes these needs only grow.

Closed landfills are a long-term liability for municipalities because they can create environmental and other problems that negatively impact residents and others. Landfill owners, including municipalities, are responsible for the costs to cleanup environmental contamination. Therefore, it is important that municipal officials are aware of the location and condition of all closed landfills in their community.