Executive Director Message

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:

• Local Officials Workshop on May 1 or May 7 (excellent primer for newly elected officials!)
• Hard Road to Travel on May 9
• Fostering Regional Resilience: SNHPC’s Road Adaptation Toolkit on May 15 (webinar)
• The Workings of a Planning Board on June 5 (webinar)
• Code Enforcement Workshop on June 11
• ZBA Basics on June 12 (webinar)
• Municipal Trustees Workshop on June 13
• Art of Welfare Administration on June 19

Most of our in-person events also offer a virtual attendance option, so we hope you can find a way to join us for one or more of these important training events.

In an event numbered year, spring also means the legislative policy making process is underway. Local officials from 45 cities and towns have volunteered their time to sit on one of three NHMA legislative policy committees: General Governance and Administration; Infrastructure, Development and Economic Development; or Finance and Revenue. Their charge is to review current policies and any policy suggestions sent in from cities and towns, and consider what should be revised, deleted, or added—ultimately creating a set of proposed 2025-2026 Legislative Policies. Those proposed policies will go to the NHMA membership for debate, discussion, and adoption at the September 27 Legislative Policy Conference. We hope your municipality will participate by sending a voting delegate to this important member-driven event!

Aa a final word, I want to thank all the local officials who have taken a moment to log in to NHMA’s new member portal. The portal allows you to better interact with NHMA’s services—and allows NHMA to communicate better with you—so ensuring your information is updated is critical to taking advantage of your member benefits. If you have never logged in, please take a moment to read these instructions.

Coming soon: More of NHMA’s member-only benefits from the website will be moving to the portal. Stay tuned!

Margaret M.L. Byrnes, NHMA Executive Director