In this special episode I sit down with Allie Levy of Still North Books and Bar talking about some of the great value in supporting local businesses this Saturday, November 25th for Small Business Saturday in Hanover. Supporting local businesses has so many benefits - aside from keeping money in the community, shopping local helps create and support good and well paying jobs in the Upper Valley, reduces the environmental footprint of your shopping and so much more. Parking is free throughout Hanover on Saturday. Park once, and get outside and walk around and support local! Here is a selection of some of the businesses in Downtown Hanover offerring Small Business Saturday promos: Main Street KitchensVon Bargen'sRed KiteStill NorthThe Fourth PlaceIndigoIvy EditLemon TreeAnd more You can also purchase new gift cards through the Upper valley's Local Luv gift card program!

This is your Town Manager Alex Torpey here with another spotlight episode.   I sit down in Town Hall with Sian Beilock, Dartmouth College's 19th president, who was inaugurated in September of this year. Sian and I discuss a range of issues from mental health, to housing in Hanover, to disagreeing and having civil conversations, what insights we can gain from cognitive science and psychology about how people interact with each other, and whether Sian can still beat her daughter in tennis or not. Both Sian and I wanted to make sure to share how essential it is to both of our organizations that we explore new ways to work even more effectively together.   Much of this kicked off last year, when I and our Selectboard were invited to a reception lunch that was hosted by the College's Board of Trustees. Although many Town and College staff already work well together, I made the case for the value in finding new ways to collaborate at a more senior, and big picture level, with me being new and Dartmouth expecting a new president soon. On that day, everyone recommitted to this great and important work, and I think we've already made a lot of progress, with so much more to come.   Sian and I first had a chance to discus this when we met in February of this year about the challenges and opportunities in Hanover, at Dartmouth, and in our broader regional community in the Upper Valley. Since then, the College has created a VP of Government and Community Relations (Great discussion with Emma Wolfe a few episodes back), and since then we've worked together on a range of new programs and issues, such as around economic and community development in our downtown, around housing, transportation, sustainability, student involvement, and more, already with notable results.   Growing up in a College town in New Jersey that I later happened to become the mayor of, and being involved in Town governance when I was in College, the complex thread of how dynamics work in College towns has always been on my mind, and that complexity, vibrancy, and challenge and opportunity is part of what excites me about the work that we're doing in Hanover. Finding the right way for the Town, and its many related stakeholders, and the College, and its many related stakeholders, to work together, even, and especially, when we aren't 100% aligned on how to approach a particular problem, idea, or policy, is one of the most important things we can do in Hanover to ensure our community's success and future.   So please enjoy this conversation with Sian and look for more in the coming weeks, months, and years about how we're collaborating on issues that matter most to our community.   More resources:   More on Sian's inaguartion and Dartmouth's plans: https://home.dartmouth.edu/events/inaugurationDiscussion with Emma Wolfe, Dartmouth's new VP of Governm

Hey all, this is your Town Manager Alex Torpey with your October update. First update: fall has come and gone! Anyway, October was a busy month in town, and in this October recap, we're going to cover topics   From the October 9th and 16th Selectboard meetingsThe October 18th Selectboard goal setting workshop And my monthly report   This includes updates on:   An employee proclamation FY24-25 budget updates, including updates on the new Capital Improvement Program Committee, ARPA funds, state report filings, and more A big update on the Mink Brook Community Workforce Housing Project Several parking updates Updating our sustainability director position Several other business items, including donations and Approval of Amended Bridge Bond Loan DocumentsAnd my report, which includes updates on: Human Resources, staffing, and the Retention/Recruitment studyTwo employee recognitions, one at Hanover Police, and one at Hanover FireThe Town's new Instagram page Upcoming events on Allen Street Downtown Hanover

I had the pleasure to attend the annual conference of the International City/County Management Association last week in Austin Texas and wanted to bring you some stories from Town Managers from across the country. Nearly 6,000 local government managers and professionals gathered from around the world to work on every issue you could possibly imagine (Learn about ICMA here). For this conference, I was also selected as one of two town managers by the Municipal Management Association of New Hampshire, along with Karen Conard, the City Manager of Portsmouth, to represent our state at a 4-hour in-depth session looking at the municipal manager's role in facilitating or making change in a community, a deep dive into the dynamics that can enable or disable local progress. Here are some of the other sessions I attended: Making Engagement ExcitingStrategic Budgeting: Integrating Budgeting and PerformanceNew Skills for Managing Difficult Conversation (put on by Braver Angels)Navigating the Future of WorkIt's About Damn Time: Women Leading in Public ServiceCapturing and Transferring Institutional KnowledgeBuild Government Teams that are Healthy and Strong Beyond going to and/or presenting at various sessions, the fun and meaningful part of going to conferences like this is getting to meet tons of interesting folks that are ultra passionate about finding ways to help their communities address some of their biggest challenges. I enjoy sharing what I'm working on, learning about what other people are doing, and workshopping ideas that we can all take back to our day-to-day. I wanted to bring a small slice of the conference to you all, and so I managed to grab a few quick 3-5 minute discussions with a number of city and town managers and other attendees from all around the country. Check out the conversations below and learn a little bit about what's happening in local government outside of the Upper Valley! Anna Gruber, City Manager for Sartell Minnesota, and Nikki Sweeter, Engagement Director of for the City of Sartell, MinnesotaSartell, MN: https://www.sartellmn.com/ Brian Platt, City Manager for Kansas City, Missouri (and former colleague/friend from New Jersey)Kansas City, MO: https://www.kcmo.gov/Kansas City's 3,100 acre solar project: https://flatlandkc.org/news-issues/details-of-massive-kc-solar-project-begin-to-emerge/ Nick and Josh, two public administration students from University of South Florida student members of their local ICMA chapterLocal student ICMA chapters: https://icma.org/student-chapters Dustin Stambaugh, City Administrator for Ellsworth, KansasEllsworth Kansas: https://www.ellsworthks.net/ Kyle Laws, City Manager for West Point, UtahWest Point Utah: https://www.westpointcity.org/ Alisha James, Assistant Town Manager for Winter Park, Colorado and Jen Reichelt, Deputy City Administrator for Yuma, ArizonaWinter Park, CO: https://wpgov.com/Website: https://www.yumaaz.gov

Hey all, this is your town Manager Alex Torpey with your September update!   Here are some of the things we've been working on in September:   September 11th and 18th Selectboard Meetings   We issued a proclamation thanking Roger Darisse for 20 years of service working for Hanover Public WorksWe lowered the speed limit on Lyme Road from 30mph to 25mphGave a quick update on the FY 24-25 budget timeline and made final appointments to the new Capital Improvement Program CommitteeDiscussed some traffic safety updatesTalked about the need to update some of the organizational materials for our boards and committeesRecapped the great Allen Street Block Party and talked about the future plans for Allen Street Discussed some space problems inside Town Hall and some ideas to explore moving forward Did a bunch of business, including Approving various minutesAccepting donations - thank you to Snax Bar; Dunks Sports Grill; Co-op Food Stores; MA-KE Architects; and Mascoma Bank. Made some appointments, including myself, our public works director, and police chief, and dispatch coordinator as deputy EMDs and our Acting Fire Chief as the Acting EMD, as well as Sloane Mayor, Jack Wilson, and Randall Mudge to the Building Code Advisory Committee Authorizing grant paperwork to move forward the Reservoir Road - Wheelock Multi Use Path My administrative report, which i

In Hanover, we care a lot about making sure people have information about what's happening in their community. It's part of the reason we started this podcast and why the Selectboard does business the way it does. But government is only one piece to the puzzle of informing, engaging, and activating a community. In this episode, I take a walk through Pine Park in Hanover with Rob Gurwitt, publisher of the daily email newsletter that many of us know and love - Daybreak. To the sound of gravel footsteps and late summer insects, we cover a wide range of super important topics such as: The value of trust in how people find and consume information, especially during and post-COVIDHow information flows in (and creates) community and how that impacts local decision making, especially as journalism and "news" has changed in the last decade or so,The differences between economic and community developmentHow Daybreak works behind the scenesWhat lessons can be reflected on from trying to engage a politically diverse audience,Leadership values that can be learned from journalism,Unique requirements and dynamics about involvement and democracy in New EnglandAnd what the heck happened in Tupelo, Mississippi in the 1940s.  Rob has a long personal and professional history of not only working in and around government, but in finding creative ways through various mediums to inform and engage people, and ultimately contribute positively to creating community. Rob wrote for the Congressional Quarterly, spent many years writing for Governing Magazine, and has spent years in different ways writing about what's happening and changing in communities. Rob helped launch the DailyUV, and since 2019, has published Daybreak. You can signup for Daybreak here: https://daybreak.news/ You can find the article from Governing Magazine about Tupelo, MI that we discussed here.

This is your Town Manager, Alex Torpey, and I'm here to welcome new and returning students back on campus and in town with the top five tips of what you might want to know about things happening around town!   We'll talk about: The wide array of businesses in our downtownUsing Advance Transit to get around (for free) Getting involved and registering to vote Hikes, hikes, and more hikes A few ways you can stay up to date   Resources:   Find local businesses In Hanover: Explorehanovernh.com In the Upper Valley: Uppervalleybusinessalliance.comUsing Google Maps/etc Using Advance Transit Routes, schedules, trip planner online: https://advancetransit.com/Mobile app: "Transit"

This is your Town Manager Alex Torpey here with your August update. In this episode we're going to cover updates from our August 21st Selectboard meeting, which includes updates on:   FY 24-25 budget and new Selectboard goal-setting workshop New Capital Improvement Plan Committee Traffic Safety Updates Including the public hearing scheduled on the 9/11 meeting to lower the speed limit on Lyme Road from 30 to 25 and 25 to 20 in the school zone, between the traffic circles And some other business, such as banner requests, minutes, donations and more As well as updates from my monthly report, which includes: New events in the downtown and Allen Street Block Party Human Resources/staffing updatesTraffic Safety Updates Parking UpdatesHousing and PlanningDowntown Hanover A few other updates   Additional links:   8/21 Selectboard agenda: https://www.hanovernh.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08212023-779?html=trueAugust Town Manager's report:

In this episode, I sit down with long-time resident and volunteer Susan Edwards to talk about the upcoming Town Yard Sale on September 2nd at 10am as well as to learn more about the Hanover Garden Club and Susan's own background and volunteering in Hanover and the Upper Valley. You might see the Garden Club's handiwork all around town with beautiful native plants that really add a lot to our downtown and community!   We encourage folks to stop by the Yard Sale (details below) as proceeds for booths help fund Sustainable Hanover and other great work. We also thank Dartmouth for their collaboration, and Susan and the many volunteers who make this and so many great events and opportunities happen in our community.   The 12th Annual Hanover Community Yard Sale will be held on Saturday, September 2nd, 2023, 10 am to 2 pm! Location is Dewey Field lot   Interested in volunteering to make the event a success? Email sustainablehanover@gmail.com!   Resources: https://sustainablehanovernh.org/yardsalehttps://www.hanovergardenclubnh.org/More info: sustainablehanover@gmail.com

In this episode I sit down with Associate Professor of Business Administration Adam Kleinbaum at Dartmouth's Tuck Business School. Adam and colleagues have recently completed a study where they used FMRI technology to measure brain activity of people as they have conversations and build consensus (or don't), which appeared in Daybreak earlier this summer. I sit with Adam in Town Hall and we talk about the study, and it's broader implications for how we relate to eachother, how implicit narratives change based on social interactions (and other environmental factors), and fascinating implications for what leadership means - for example, that the most influential individuals that helped produce cognitive alignment were open-minded people who fleshed out ideas from others, rather than who aggressively pushed their own ideas. There is significant implication and alignments with tenants of positive psychnology as well. There are broad ranging implications for this work in how we conceptualize our personal and professional relationships, and importantly, how people work together to think about and address large problems. The other study authors were: Beau Sievers, Dartmouth’s Christopher Welker, Uri Hasson, and Dartmouth’s Thalia Wheatley. More links: Summary and overview of the study: https://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/when-we-agree-our-brains-align?mc_cid=a8c69bdd6d&mc_eid=d19549093cAdam's faculty page and prior research: https://faculty.tuck.dartmouth.edu/adam-kleinbaum/The full text of the paper: https://psyarxiv.com/562z7/Simpsons clip I mentioned: https://youtu.be/3iFxUCSTfRUStar Trek The Next Generation: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation

Come spend time with us on Allen Street for some exciting, fun-filled events! At these events we will close off Allen Street to traffic and turn the whole street into a lively, pedestrian-only walkway with music, food, and more! Allen Street Block Party August 25-27 Allen street will be the place to be if you're looking for a live performance to see! All weekend long our outdoor stage will be used for bands, magic shows, talent shows, and more! There's something for everyone! Sawtooth and Still North Books will be serving food on the street all weekend long and there will be lots of outdoor games to play! Programming for Allen Street Includes: August 25: Live Music 6pm - Andrew Brozek of Ramblers and Co7pm - Canopy August 26: Stories, Magic Shows, and more! 10:30am - Storytime with Still North Books11am - The Magic of Jason Purdy4pm - Open Mic Night/Talent Show August 27: Live Music 2PM - Awen Family Band

In this spotlight episode, I sit down with Liz Burdette, Assistant Director, and Kat Norwood, Events and Media Program Manager, at Hanover Parks and Rec!   We talk about the new events that we're starting on Allen Street, including our Allen Street Block Party on August 25th and 26th where the street will be closed to vehicles, and have music, magicians, games, and more. We talk about what it's like to work at Parks and Rec (is it like the show??), some of the innovative ways that they have helped create a really tight-knit and collaborative culture among their staff, how residents can request new types of classes, and all of the great events, activities, and programs that HPR currently offers. Take a moment to meet two great employees and find ways that you can involved as a volunteer in helping making important community-oriented events and programs happen in Hanover!   Find programs at HPR: https://hanovernh.myrec.com/info/activities/default.aspxContact HPR to request new programs: https://hanovernh.myrec.com/info/contact/default.aspxUpcoming calendar of events: https://www.hanovernh.org/calendar.aspx?CID=22,23

Hey all, this your Town Manager Alex Torpey here for your July Hanover Happenings update. It's a strange summer weather wise, but hey at least it's summer (for now)!   We'll cover the following updates in this episode: From our Selectboard meeting on July 24th: Rate and fee schedule for FY 24Capital Improvement Plan Committee Traffic safety recommendations from staff Discussion about agenda/minutes formatting Donations, unanticipated revenue, and some other businessCreation of Talent Acquisition Coordinator position And from my report: Human Resources, staffing, and Retention/Recruitment study update, including critical staffing shortage updateWoodstock IT shared services Mink Brook Community Forest Housing Update Downtown HanoverRecent storm updates Several other updates     Some links: Videos of the Selectboard meetings (agenda items are timestamped)

This is your Town Manager Alex Torpey here. In this episode I sit down in Town Hall with Emma Wolfe, Dartmouth College's new Vice President of Government and Community Relations. This is a new position at Dartmouth and part of some of the exciting changes coming with Dartmouth's new President, Sian Beilock. In this episode I wanted to give some space to introduce Emma to the community. We chat about what the position entails, a bunch about Emma's background in higher education, city government, and organizing, how we approach the challenge on college campuses, and in the broader community, of creating spaces where we can discuss hard subjects constructively with each other. We also learn a bit about what Emma's been hearing so far being up here, and her quick take on the Upper Valley! I hope enjoy this chance to learn a little about Emma, as she'll be involved in many avenues and forums with the Town, and will likely meet many of you listening in the coming month and years. We'll be introducing Sian and other new senior leaders in future episodes, so stay tuned for all of those. Don't forget to subscribe or share this with a friend if you  like it - enjoy! More about Emma: https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2023/06/emma-wolfe-named-vp-government-and-community-relations.

Hi everyone this is your Town Manager Alex Torpey here with your June 2023 updates. June was a busy month! In this episode, we'll cover updates on: Selectboard meetings from June 5th and June 26th, where we:Discussed setting rates and fees for FY24Set and held a few public hearings on easements and accepting property (and more about that process)Almost finalized all of the re-organization appointments for the Selectboard for the upcoming yearWe talked about and accepted the bike/walk plan and Vision Zero PlanWe heard an overview from Twin pines on workforce housingWe set meeting dates for the summer (One Selectboard meeting per month - July 24th and August 21st) and discussed summer hours for staff (Also a separate episode)We made various appointmentsRe-apporoved funding for Campion RinkClassified and re-classified several new and existing job positionAccepted some giftsDid various other business And my June administrative report, which includes updates on:Staffing, human resouces and our ongoing Retention and Recruitment studyUpdates from Downtown Hanover A finance and budget updateAnd a few other updates   Some links: Videos of the Selectboard meetings (agenda items are timestamped)Bike/walk and Vision Zero plans Twin Pines PresentationSelectboard agendas

It's summertime and the living's easy. Well not quite… but we are  trying out a new program in Hanover and I wanted to share that with you. As many of you may know if you keep up on our podcast, we are doing an intensive, employee-driven staffing study right now. We are just about in month three of a total of six months. By the end, we'll have had something like 70 or 80 small group discussions with our staff, reviewing everything from how departments determine needs and set goals, to what kind of benefits we offer, how we onboard people, and just about everything else involved in working here in Hanover. We're doing this because labor markets are changing, and governments generally are not especially well prepared to shift our practices along with these changes, and we're already seeing some persistent vacancies and service level impacts. One of the things we're looking at is how to make the workplace a supportive, dare I say humane place, and in many workplaces especially over the last few years, we've lost that thread, with fewer staff performing the same or a higher level of work, even as high inflation cuts into salaries and purchasing power. We're collecting feedback from our nearly 200 total employees here in Hanover, and starting to make small changes and queue up broader changes in the coming months and years to help make Hanover a true employer-of choice in the coming years. One way we're doing that is looking at summer hours. The goal here is to provide every employee with some amount of time during the standard work week that they aren't scheduled for work. Meaning, that people should be able to go to other things that are typically only open during the standard work week (doctors, banks, etc) without having to burn their time off. Some departments with shift schedules or differing hours already have this built in, but many don't. We explored a few different options of how to set this up, including having late nights, and early days, four 9 or 10 hour days, and a few others. What we landed on that worked best for most employees are slight variations from different departments and I describe that below so you can be aware what departments are open when. It's not radically different from what we have in place normally, and we have these schedules posted on our website too. This is a great pilot to see what works or what doesn't, and we'll review at the end of the summer how things worked and make recommendations for the future. We have a tremendously hard working staff here in Hanover, and I'm happy to bring a slight slow down and pressure relief over the summer so that people can get back into work well rested and happy and do the best work possible for all of you, our community.  Find the schedules online at Hanovernh.org.   Town Hall Building hours: Monday - Thursday 8am - 430pm Friday 8 – 1pm. Building closed after 1pm on Friday   Police Officers at-large  Normal shift schedule Chief, Captain, and Lieutenants Rotating 4-day work week (Same coverage as currently) Admin 4-day week with most Fridays off Parking Normal schedule   Fire Normal shift schedule  Admin  4-day work week with Fridays off      DPW Highway and line maintenance  Rotating 4-day work week days (same coverage)  Fleet  Normal schedule  Water Rotating 4-day week (same coverage)  Wastewater   &

This is your Town Manager Alex Torpey with a community spotlight episode. In this episode we talk to Dr. Kailtyn Morse the Founder and Executive Director of BeBop Labs. Lyme disease impacts somewhere between 300,000 - 400,000 people annually in the US alone, and itself is only one of several tick-borne diseases that many believe may be on the rise, but whose pathology is not very well understood, and creates many challenges for individuals and our healthcare system. In New England, this is especially relevant, especially those who spend any amount of time outside. So I wanted to bring together some information for the community in time for Lyme awareness month which was May. I'm a little delayed in getting this episode out, and originally had intended on doing a series of conversations together, but schedules were hard to pin down. I may do some more episodes in the future, because this is such an important and wide ranging topic, but I wanted to release this really great conversation with Kaitlyn who has a wealth of knowledge, data, and resources through BeBop Labs. In our chat over Zoom, Kailtyn and I talk about how BeBop Labs, an Upper valley nonprofit, has been tracking tick-borne illness data, relying on folks sending in ticks (which you can learn how to do in the show notes), and what they have been learning from a truly incredible amount of data collection. We talk about what trends Kaitlyn and others have been seeing and general tick safety with some tips that are good to know for anyone living in New England, especially if you spend time outside or have pets, including basic things you can do when hiking or even in your garden to reduce potential tick exposure. BeBop labs is doing important and complex work, and they have a truly astonishing amount of information on their website, which you can find various links to below Now in this episode we talk more ticks than Lyme disease itself, but what I might say normally if discussing something that touches on a medical issue on the podcast, which is some sort of disclaimer to talk to your doctor or primary care physician, and that this isn't meant to be medical advice. However, as someone who has struggled with Lyme and related issues for years, and is first hand aware of how Lyme is treated by most medical practitioners, which is to say, it's not well understood, and most practitioners are not up to date on the latest research happening right now, you should not only speak to a medical professional, but you'll likely need to do your own research and be your own advocate as well. Ideally, if you or someone you know might be struggling with issues related to Lyme, or struggling with issues that you don't know what the cause is but haven't been tested for Lyme, you should consider finding an MD who has a demonstrated practice or expertise with Lyme or tick-borne illnesses, and that, combined with your own research and advocacy, would likely be your best bet to finding resources and support that might help you. Of course prevention practices are valuable as well, and those practices are relatively well understood and you can learn more below about that in this episode and the links below. Send ticks into BeBop labs for analysis: https://www.beboplabs.org/send-ticks/Learn how to protect yourself and your property: https://www.beboplabs.org/prevention/Tick ID: https://www.beboplabs.org/tick-identification/Lyme summary information from Johns HopkinsLyme detailed information from Lymedisease.org

Hi all - this your Town Manager here with your May update!   In this episode we're going to cover: Outcomes from Town Meeting on may 9thThe Selectboard meeting on May 15th   We'll also discuss some administrative updates from May, including: HR/staffing DPW summer work scheduleTraffic safety/e-scooter ordinance summary Downtown meetings and new public spacesWebsite updateAnd more   Find more information:   Town Meeting Election, Ballot, Business Meeting ResultsMay Town Manger's report DPW Summer Work schedule - Page 7Traffic Safety Memo - Page 34 Selectboard agendas/minutesAll podcast episodesSubstack

Have you managed construction projects? Do you like to find new ways to solve problems? Do you want to help shape the future of an organization that loves its DPW? Well, we're hiring a Deputy Public Works Director of Highway and Fleet in Hanover! With many retirements coming in future years, this is a chance for someone to help institutionalize the incredible knowledge of long-serving employees and help guide the future of our Highway and Fleet Division. Check out Town Manager Alex Torpey and DPW Director Pete Kulbacki who share a little bit about the position and learn more or apply at hanovernh.org/employment.

This is your Town Manager Alex Torpey here, and in this episode I sit down with Cinde Warmington, the District 2 Executive Councilor, representing Hanover. The Executive Council is a unique structure at the state government level in New Hampshire. We talk a little bit about what the Executive Council is and how Cinde's office can help you, if you are having an issues with a state government department, for example. We also talk about how you can volunteer at the state level! You can learn more about the Executive Council here: https://www.nh.gov/council/. You can contact Cinde directly here either with an interest in volunteering or if you need help with a state agency/department: https://www.nh.gov/council/districts/d2/index.htm.