Up Close and Personal on

UP CLOSE &

PERSONAL On the Board

April Hibberd

Do you know someone who deserves to be profiled in a future edition of New Hampshire Town and City magazine?

If so, please contact the New Hampshire Municipal Association at 603.224-7447 or tfortier@nhmunicipal.org. W elcome to Up Close and Personal is designed to give readers a closer look at NHMA board members. In this issue, we hope you enjoy meeting one of our newest board members, April Hibberd, Selectman in the Town of Bethlehem. April was elected this November to serve on NHMA’s board of directors.

TC: What are your duties and responsibilities as a Selectman?

AH: As a Selectman, besides the roles and responsibilities determined by law, I am the liaison to the police, recreation, legal, library, tax, executive and welfare departments. As a liaison, I am available to these department heads as a resource, a sounding board, to give feedback, budget assistance, personnel discussions and to keep the board informed on pertinent information involving the departments.

TC: What is your biggest challenge in performing your duties?

AH: I was formerly the Administrative Assistant which gives me a unique perspective as a board member. It can be challenging at times to use that perspective during an opinionbased conversation versus “this is the way it needs to be done” conversation.

TC: How has NHMA helped you to do your job?

AH: I have been a frequent flier of the legal services. Utilizing that has saved us many times. The trainings, workshops and webinars have been instrumental in learning the responsibilities for all the people involved in running a town. I have worn many hats as an employee of the town. I welcomed each role with confidence knowing I had all the training resources available to me.

TC: Give us an example of a problem you solved or a dilemma you faced and overcame in the line of duty?

AH: When I first started working for the town there was some tension between employees/ departments, morale was down and there was a lack of collaboration between the departments. There were monthly department head meetings that I hoped could be a venue to make the department heads and departments more cohesive. The meetings did evolve into more than just FYI conversations. Departments were helping one another and the management team became a cohesive team that helped, advocated and supported each other.

TC: Tell us a story about an unusual experience you have ad while doing your job.

AH: There are so many…. When our porta potty went missing and took days to figure it out. The mystery was in the local paper.

TC: What lessons about human nature have you learned in your municipal role?

AH: Bethlehem can be a very political town and has been divided on an issue for more than 30 years. The issue has affected relationships and been the focus of many select board meetings. When I decided to run for selectman, I knew I would have to finally reveal if I was pro or anti landfill. I chose not to share my opinion on that publicly as an employee because of how passionate people are. I didn’t want it to affect my job as Administrative Assistant. I once received a card after experiencing a loss from a very politically active member of our town. It was a beautiful card with very kind words written in it. In the card was also written “even though we don’t agree politically….” which surprised me in two ways. We had never discussed politics including the landfill topic and this person who is so passionate about her beliefs reached out to me in kindness even though she assumed I was on the “other” side. We have a very caring and kind town. It gets hidden sometimes in the landfill battle, but when it comes down to it and if someone in town needs something, you will have an army of people there to help.