Legal Q and A

Legal Services Department - 2022 Year-in-Review

NHMA staff includes two attorney who are available to answer legal inquires and provide general legal assistance by email and telephone to elected and appointed officials from member municipalities. Although these attorneys prepare articles, handbooks, seminars, and other educational programs and publications, they spend a lot of time answering your specific legal inquires, either by phone or by email. NHMA strives to have a lawyer on telephone duty at 1-603-224-7447 each business day between 8:30 and 4:30.

As seen in the chart below, NHMA’s Legal Services Department saw a slight decline in legal inquiry call volume in 2022 over 2021 call volumes. This averages out to twelve legal inquires a day based upon 260 business days in 2022.

Legal Inquiry Call/Email Statistics - 2022

With A CompArison of inquiries by month - 2020-2022

Top Ten Legal Inquiry Subjects - 2022

On Demand Presentations: Legal Services and Government Affairs staff presented 23 On-Demand programs to member municipalities during 2022 that were attended by 203 local officials. 19 of these were paid programs, and 4 were programs provided without charge to those municipalities with dues greater than $15,000.

Workshops: Legal Services presented 16 workshops to member municipalities during 2022 that were attended by over 1,200 members. Here’s a breakdown of 2022 workshops:

Moderators: 146 attendees, 2 dates

Local Officials: 196 attendees, 2 dates

Welfare: 61 attendees

Budget & Finance: 206 attendees

Hard Road to Travel: 129 attendees, 2 dates

Code Enforcement: 70 attendees

Right-to-Know Law: 241attendees, 4 dates

Trustees Training: 90 attendees

Land Use Law Conf.: 81 attendees

TOTAL ATTENDEES 1,220 attendees

Webinars: Legal Services attorneys presented 3 webinar programs during 2022.

UNH T2 : Five workshops presented with UNH T2 on Hot Topics in Highway Regulation

Other Presentations: NHMA Legal Services attorneys made presentations to the following:

Right-to-Know Law Overview - NH Tax Collectors Association

Zoning Board/Planning Board Basics - NH Office of Planning & Development

Local Government in NH – Primex Summit

Right-to-Know & Personnel Files – NH Assoc. Chiefs of Police

Right-to-Know Law – NE Regional Tax Collectors/Treasurers

Right-to-Know Law - NH Association of Conservation Commissioners

Amicus Briefs Filed in 2022:

Bisceglia v. Secretary of State, Motion for Reconsideration filed April 11, 2022

Ortolano v. Nashua, Memorandum of Law filed August 15, 2022

Conway v. Kudrick, Amicus Brief with NH Planners Assoc. filed July 25, 2022

For more information about our legal advisory services, NHMA staff can be reached at 603-224-7447 or by email at legalinquiries@nhmunicipal.org.