ATTENTION! New Hampshire Town Leaders!!
By: Cotton Cleveland, President, Mather Associates
New Hampshire Town and City Magazine ~ April 2003  

Are your town residents motivated to participate in local issues? Do they have a strong stake in the community, getting involved in a knowledgeable and functional way? Do they know how town issues are influenced by County, State and SAU complexities? How do the residents of your New Hampshire town learn how things really work?

My mother, Hilary Cleveland, was the Town Moderator in New London for 18 years. In 2000 when she stepped down, I was elected. (Maybe voters didn't notice the first name had changed!) I had much to learn from Mom about process and procedure, and we had many good discussions about town government and what makes a town healthy. No matter how the conversation began, it kept coming back to the need for an educated, informed and motivated electorate.

We decided to include others in our discussions. Together, we designed a course called Issues in Town Government . This seminar for 25 participants was a six week, twelve hour course, sponsored by Colby-Sawyer College 's community outreach program called Adventures in Learning. We timed the sessions to run through the first week of March, so that participants would have the maximum motivation to learn more about town government and THEN participate and vote in their town meeting.

Based upon our experience and discussions, we had several major assumptions as we put together this course: Individuals who become more involved in town issues also build strong and lasting connections with others in the town. These relationships weave the fabric that keeps communities vital, which is also known as building strong social capital . New Hampshire towns are, for the most part, not able to attract sufficient quality volunteers to keep their towns running effectively. The more informed people become about key town issues and about the process for resolving those issues, the more they will participate. Also, people like to be included in decisions that affect their lives. If they learn that there are issues that affect them, they will be motivated to participate. In many cases the only reason people do not learn more about town government is that no one has offered the information in a user-friendly way.

Participants were assigned to read New Hampshire: Crosscurrents in its Development by Nancy Coffey Heffernan and Ann Page Stecker. This book includes wonderful word pictures, such as, “The story of the political and economic development of the state is like the story of a New Hampshire day in February when the temperature can swing from minus ten degrees to thirty degrees in a few hours. Only the uninitiated are surprised, and even they take a certain pleasure in the sheer contrariness of it.”

Structure and History of New Hampshire State and County Government

The dynamic Dr. Jere Daniell, Professor of History at Dartmouth College led the first session with an historical overview of New Hampshire government. “ New Hampshire is the nation's most decentralized state,” he told us. “The majority of its inhabitants take immense pride in the peculiarities of its governmental institutions, system of public financing, and political attitudes. Most outsiders become both curious and bewildered when they read about governance in the Granite State…The legislature (even) approved Live Free or Die as an automobile license plate logo, a clear expression of commitment to as little central authority as could be managed.” At this and each subsequent session participants asked many questions, creating a dialogue with each speaker, emulating the democratic town structure we hoped they would increasingly join.

New Hampshire Town, Municipal and Regional School District

John Andrews, the Executive Director of NHMA and Dean Bensley, a retired Raytheon executive and member of the Kearsarge Regional School Board, talked extensively in the second session about town and school basic structure and key issues. Andrews: “The Town perception is that schools get pretty much what they want traditionally, but the Selectmen have to battle for every shovel, desk and part time office assistant. Schools are much bigger ‘businesses' than most towns…Many town government infrastructures aren't as sophisticated as schools with the number of managers, support staff, hired expertise, computer systems…” Bensley: “The schools and their volunteer boards are buffeted by a variety of complex issues. Public schools are the creation of the State and are highly regulated. Multiple constituencies have different goals. This volunteer assignment is as challenging as anything I had in my business career.”

Elected Officials and Committees

In the third session, Merle Schotanus, former State Representative and current Moderator of Grantham, and Doug Lyon , Chair of the New London Board of Selectmen, each talked in great detail about the issues confronting county and town elected officials. Schotanus: “Local control is a political myth. The County Commissioners and the Selectmen can't do much without referring to the RSA's from the State Legislature.” Lyon : “The common wisdom among the Selectmen and local officials is that the State representatives push expenses and services to the County, because people don't realize they are voting for the county budget. Then the towns just get the bill from the counties.” Schotanus: “That's what's called horizontal cost shifting !”

Town Administration Officials and Appointed Committees

April Whittaker, Town Manager of Enfield and Lois Marshall, past Town Clerk of New London gave an outstanding presentation on Town Officials and Appointed Committees in our fourth session. In addition to creating a 14 page summary of all officials and committees with their appropriate RSA responsibilities, April and Lois were able to respond to very detailed questions from participants, including welfare rules and how to fill in an absentee ballot.

Citizen Democracy and Volunteerism

Session Five brought us two well-known local volunteers, Dan Wolf, past Selectman of Newbury and Karen Ebel, Chair of the New London Planning Board, as well as two Colby-Sawyer College students who volunteer extensively with the CSC Community Service Club. What is a citizen democracy? What are various ways an individual can impact the community? Are there ways to get more people involved in local government? How can we encourage future volunteers? After hearing briefly from each panelist, participants met in small groups with members of the panel to discuss these questions and make recommendations.

Election and Town Meeting Process

The Honorable William Gardner, New Hampshire Secretary of State, addressed the group at our last session. He focused on State and national elections, giving a highly entertaining history of NH's First-in-the-Nation Primary. He also addressed the recent, and very complex, Supreme Court decision on the straight-ticket ballot dispute in which John Coughlin was finally declared the winner over Peter McDonough in the race for Hillsborough County Attorney. Participants reviewed blank ballots from the November '02 election to assess how they would have handled this decision. After Mr. Gardner left, we discussed whether or not New Hampshire 's unique form of government is effective.

Will participants participate in town government more, as a result of class? Overall the participants enjoyed this class very much. But, do they know more, and will it cause them to participate in town government more? Already two participants are working to join their local planning boards. A number of participants attended their town budget review meetings and are sure to be more knowledgeable at Town Meeting. We have helped get the information to people; now they will need some encouragement, support, and follow-up to jump into the fray.

How are you helping your town citizens learn more about how your town works? In our third session Doug Lyon said, “The only real power the Board of Selectmen has is the power of education and persuasion.” Let's start with the basics by offering our citizens some fundamental education about how things work in our towns. Not everyone will want a 12-hour course! (However, the anecdotal experience of our first attempt suggests that future town volunteer leaders may emerge from such efforts.) But working together, towns could come up with some fun, interesting basic information. Maybe a brochure, a video, a website…How about coffee and doughnuts on a Saturday morning at your town offices with some newcomers, a short video and a few town officials to say, “Welcome to Our Town! We'd love to talk to you for a few minutes about how things work around here and answer any questions or concerns you might have!” Just the simple act of meeting and greeting would be a step in the right direction of informing people and building social capital. These connections and commitments are the bonds that will keep our communities vital!