Happenings

Please Update Municipal Roster by May 31st and Wage Survey by June 30th!

Having accurate and up-to-date contact information allows us to reach our members with important information in a timely manner. We ask you to update your contact information online after each election.

STEP ONE: Update Your Organization (by May 31st)

Please log onto www.nhmunicipal.org and go to Manage Organization in the Members Account Administration (green) box. This is the section where you confirm office hours, mailing address, email information, website address, etc. pertaining to your local municipal operations. If you don’t know who in your city or town has access to do this, please send an email to nhmainfo@nhmunicipal.org requesting who your Account Administrator is for your city of town. Under Manage Organization, you will see a screen requesting certain information regarding employee benefits. Please indicate whether your city or town has any collective bargaining agreements, whether it offers health insurance to employees, and what the percentage is of employee contribution toward health care coverage. After each election, we ask that you update us about your elections, office hours, and meeting schedules, etc.

STEP TWO: Update Your Officials (by May 31st)

Under Manage Officials, we ask that you add, remove, and update the names and contact information of your local municipal roster resulting from the most recent election. For each municipal employee/position on your municipal roster, you will see a new screen asking if this position is paid hourly, by salary, or by stipend. That’s it! It’s that easy! Thank you in advance for your time and efforts by updating your municipal roster and by completing this basic wage information. It is only due to your participation that we are able to provide this valuable business management tool to our membership.

STEP THREE: Update Your Wage Data (by June 30th)

NHMA coordinates this Wage Survey for the benefit of our member municipalities, but it is our members who must take the time to input their local wage data so that other members may benefit from this shared information. Under Manage Wage Data, we ask that you provide hourly or annualized wage data for the 153 elected and appointed positions we have identified in municipal government operations. We ask that you best fit your data into the 153 positions or roles provided even though certain positions may not be a perfect fit.

HAPPENINGS from page 5

New Hampshire Office of Planning and Development’s handbooks for Planning Boards and Zoning Boards of Adjustment have been updated based on 2021 legislation and are now available online. A summary of changes, which lists the changes that have been made since the 2020 update, is included in each handbook as well as in a separate document. Unlike previous years, OPD is only providing online copies of the handbooks. The summary of changes lists the chapters of the handbooks that have been revised and a pdf of each chapter is available online. • The Planning Board in New Hampshire - A Handbook for Local Officials: 2021 Update. This handbook is designed to serve as an introduction to the organization, powers, duties and procedures of planning boards in New Hampshire. It is a resource to acquaint board members and other interested persons with the basic responsibilities of the planning board and to suggest procedures by which the work of the board can be carried out in a fair and effective manner. • The Zoning Board in New Hampshire - A Handbook for Local Officials: 2021 Update. This handbook is designed to serve as an introduction to the organization, powers, duties and procedures of boards of adjustment in New Hampshire. It is a resource to acquaint board members and other interested persons with the basic responsibilities of the board of adjustment and to suggest procedures by which the work of the board can be carried out in a fair and effective manner.

Justice Department Issues Web Accessibility Guidance Under the Americans with Disabilities Act

The Department of Justice recently published guidance on web accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It explains how state and local governments (entities covered by ADA Title II) and businesses open to the public (entities covered by ADA Title III) can make sure their websites are accessible to people with disabilities in line with the ADA’s requirements. The guidance discusses a range of topics, including the importance of web accessibility, barriers that inaccessible websites create for some people with disabilities, when the ADA requires web content to be accessible, tips on making web content accessible and other information and resources. The guidance offers plain language and user-friendly explanations to ensure that it can be followed by people without a legal or technical background. The full guidance is available here. To learn more about the department’s disability rights work, please visit www.ADA.gov.

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:

 Telecommunica�ons  Appellate  Water  U�lity & Infrastructure  Tax Assessment  Labor & Employment  Growth Control  Police  Eminent Domain  Li�ga�on  Land Use & Planning  Environmental

Also available for conict counsel services

OFFICES IN EXETER, PORTSMOUTH, MEREDITH & CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE

WWW.DTCLAWYERS.COM DONAHUE, TUCKER & CIANDELLA, PLLC

E‐mail: info@DTCLawyers.com Toll Free: (800) 566‐0506 For inquiries please contact Christopher Boldt or Sharon Somers

Act Now To Protect Against Potential Cyberattacks

The White House has warned repeatedly about the potential for Russia to engage in malicious cyber activity against the United States in response to the unprecedented economic sanctions we have imposed. There is now evolving intelligence that Russia may be exploring options for potential cyberattacks.

The U.S. Government will continue its efforts to provide resources and tools to the public and private sector, including via CISA’s Shields-Up campaign and they will do everything in their power to defend the Nation and respond to cyberattacks. But the reality is that much of the Nation’s critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector and the private sector must act to protect the critical services on which all Americans rely.

The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) will be holding its annual Recycling Conference & Expo on Monday, May 16 and Tuesday, May 17 in person in Manchester, NH. For over forty years, NRRA’s Recycling Conference & Expo has been a premier conference focused exclusively on municipal recycling and waste reduction in the Northeast. Registration is now open at https://www.nrrarecycles.org/recycling-conference.

This year’s theme, “What’s Next: Rethinking Resource Recovery” emphasizes the need for communities to rethink the future of solid waste and waste reduction and reset following the pandemic and China’s National Sword. Each year, hundreds of attendees join from across the recycling and waste management industry, including leaders and decisionmakers from: • Municipal recycling centers and transfer stations; • State, city and town governments; and • Business and industry

The conference will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown Hotel in Manchester, NH both days with some workshops available remotely via live stream.

View the agenda and register at https://www.nrrarecycles.org/recycling-conference.

NHMA Offers Customized “On-Demand” Training Services!

Thanks to COVID-19, we’re doing things a little differently with our “On-Demands” training. Instead of having a legal services attorney travel to your city or town, we’re now offering “OnDemands” as virtual presentations via the Teams or Zoom platform.

Attendees would log in to the training program from the comfort of their home or office and attend virtually, with the ability to ask live questions of the presenting attorney. Please contact us at legalinquiries@nhmunicipal.org for more information!

NHMA will offer this alternative method of training on a date and time that would be suitable for your board and staff, and you could always invite surrounding member municipalities to participate and contribute to the total cost. The cost is: $400.00 for a 2-hour, virtual On Demand (1 attorney); $550.00 for a 2-hour, in-person On-Demand (1 attorney); and $725.00 for a 3-hour, in person On-Demand for law enforcement (two attorneys).

If interested, please Download Fillable PDF On-Demand Order form and follow instructions.

2022 Hard Road to Travel Hybrid Workshop

Thursday, May 5, 2022 9:00 a.m.—12:30 p.m.

Join NHMA Legal Services Counsel Stephen Buckley and Municipal Services Counsel Jonathan Cowal for this year’s A Hard Road to Travel workshop and the debut of our first fully updated publication since 2015! Not only will this workshop delve into the details of how roads are formed, classified and maintained, how weight limits are established, and the basics of development on Class VI roads, the attorneys here at NHMA have also conducted a review of all the legal inquiries over the past few years and will be providing insight on some of the most common road related legal issues facing towns and cities. These topics involve OHRV’s and snowmobiles, municipal liability and highway maintenance requirements, discontinuing and re-classifying of roads and more! The workshop will help local officials understand some of the more complicated areas of highway law including a review of the local regulation of highways by the select board, mailbox location, driveway regulation by the planning board, defining the difference between a right-of-way, a public road and a private road, and determining exactly which public entity has the final say in regulating the roads within our towns.

Questions? Please contact our Event Coordinator, Ashley Methot at 603 -230-3350 or nhmaregistrations@nhmunicipal.org.

Registration Fees: $65.00 (in-person); $55.00 (virtual)

Pre-registration and payment is required. If you register but cannot attend, a recording of the workshop will be provided as long as payment has been received.

Attendees will receive a complimentary electronic copy of NHMA's 2022 updated publication, A Hard Road to Travel: New Hampshire Law of Local Highways, Streets, and Trails.Additional materials such as the PowerPoint presentation will also be distributed electronically. No print outs of the materials or hard copy of the publication will be provided.