Title III, Towns, Cities, Village Districts, and Unincorporated Places

Any municipality or municipal water company supplying water to the public for domestic use shall have the power to take by the exercise of the right of eminent domain any property needed to protect the purity of the water so supplied, upon petition to the superior court or in the…

I. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, except as provided in paragraph V of this section, no municipal water company shall disconnect service to a customer if any part of the service provided accrues to the benefit of one or more parties known by company t…

Except in municipalities which have acquired, expanded, or established a plant under this chapter, the development by a municipality of any small scale power facility, as defined in RSA 374-D:1, IV shall not be subject to the provisions of this chapter. Nothing in this section sh…

In matters over which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does not have jurisdiction, or has jurisdiction but chooses to grant jurisdiction to the state, the commission shall determine, to a just and reasonable extent, the consequential damages such as stranded investment in…

Municipal electric utilities established after July 1, 1997, shall unbundle their rates and allow for open access to competitive retail electric supply markets as soon as retail electric competition is certified to exist anywhere in the state pursuant to RSA 38:36. Municipal elec…

I. Any retail electric customer located within a municipality that has established a municipal electric utility after July 1, 1997, but who is not within the service area of such utility, shall not be responsible for, and no entity may require the customer to pay, through taxes o…

The chairman of the public utilities commission shall certify to the secretary of state the date that retail electric competition exists in each portion of the state.

I. Except as provided in paragraph II, no municipal electric utility or municipality may, after July 1, 2000, purchase, construct, or operate any fossil fuel plants for the manufacture of electricity and sale to customers beyond the bounds of the municipality. II. Following consu…

I. In this subdivision: (a) "Access tariff" means the fee charged on a monthly or annual basis to broadband providers for access to the broadband infrastructure. (b) [Repealed.] (c) "Broadband" means the transmission of information, between or among points specified by the user, …

For defraying the cost of acquisition, construction, payment of the interest on any debt incurred, management, maintenance, operation, and repair of broadband infrastructure, or the construction, enlargement, or improvement of such systems, the governing body may establish a scal…

I. The commission shall: (a) Research municipal energy use and cost and make such information available to the town on at least an annual basis. (b) Make recommendations to local boards and committees pertaining to municipal energy plans and sustainable practices such as energy c…

The compensation of the commissioners shall be fixed by the municipality. They shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duties. They shall annually organize by choosing one of their number as chairperson of the board. They shall appoint a clerk and a superintendent of pu…

The authority shall be composed of 5 members who shall be appointed by the board of aldermen, city council, or selectmen in such town or city as follows: One member to serve for a period of 5 years, one member to serve for a period of 4 years, one member to serve for a period of …

Any town or village district may initially establish such a plant after 2/3 of all the voters present and voting at an annual or special meeting, duly warned in either case, have voted by ballot with the use of the checklist that it is expedient to do so. A favorable vote to esta…

A regional transit district established under this chapter shall be a body corporate and politic and shall have the following powers and duties: I. To adopt a name and corporate seal. II. To sue or be sued, but only to the extent and upon the same conditions that a city or town m…

I. The funds received from the collection of access tariffs shall be kept as a separate fund to be known as the broadband fund. Such fund shall be allowed to accumulate from year to year, shall not be commingled with town or city tax revenues, and shall not be deemed part of the …

The governing body shall annually make a report of the broadband fund to the municipality showing the expenses and income of the fund, and all other material facts. This report shall be published in the annual report of the municipality.

The commissioners shall annually, at the time other city, town, or district officers report, make a report to the municipality of the condition of any facilities and equipment financially and otherwise showing the funds, expenses and income of the works, and all other material fa…

Each member of the authority shall be, and shall hold office only so long as he is, a resident of and registered voter in the town or city in which the authority is located. Each member of the authority shall be reimbursed for actual necessary traveling and other expenses incurre…

I. A town or city, having established an energy commission, may appropriate money as necessary for the purpose of this chapter. All or any part of money so appropriated in any year and any gifts of money received under this chapter may be placed in an energy commission fund and a…

Any unincorporated town or unorganized place may initially establish such a plant after 2/3 of the members of the county convention shall have voted that it is expedient to do so, and, if there are any registered voters in that unincorporated town or unorganized place, after such…

The district shall be considered a public body and have the same status as a city or town with regard to motor carrier regulation, road tolls, fuel taxes, and vehicle registration. All agreements between municipalities shall be in accordance with RSA 53-A.

The department of energy and New Hampshire regional planning commissions may establish programs to assist, at their request, the cities and towns which have established an energy commission.

Within 30 days after the confirming vote provided for in RSA 38:3, 38:4, or 38:5 the governing body shall notify in writing any utility engaged, at the time of the vote, in generating or distributing electricity, gas, or water for sale in the municipality, of the vote. The munici…

No person shall be eligible for membership who at the time of his appointment to such authority holds any remunerative public office or position or any employment for compensation (except as an independent contractor) with the United States, the state of New Hampshire, or any pol…

Each year the regional transit district board shall prepare a proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which shall include estimates of operating expenses and revenues from fares and other sources. The budget shall include the amount to be requested from each member city or town…

This chapter is intended to ease the administrative demands on municipalities by allowing them to form a single board of commissioners; however, nothing in this chapter is to be construed to alter the applicability of RSA 38, 149-I or 231.

The authority shall appoint a chairman, who shall be a member of the authority, and shall appoint a secretary and treasurer. The authority may also appoint a vice chairman from its members, said vice chairman to act as chairman in the absence or inability of the chairman. The sec…

The utility shall reply to the inquiry provided for in RSA 38:6 by delivering its answer in writing to the governing body within 60 days of the receipt of the inquiry. If the reply is in the negative, or if the reply is not made within the 60 days, the utility thereby forfeits an…

The treasurer shall execute a bond with corporate sureties to be approved by the authority, which bond shall be payable to the authority in whatever penal sum may be directed by the authority conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties of the office and the payment of…

The governing body of a municipality may negotiate and agree with the utility upon the price to be paid for such plant and property; provided, however, that such agreement shall not be binding upon the municipality until ratified pursuant to RSA 38:13.

A majority of the members of the authority constitute a quorum for the transaction of business and all action of the authority shall be by a majority vote of its members.

I. If the municipality and the utility fail to agree upon a price, or if it cannot be agreed as to how much, if any, of the plant and property lying within or without the municipality the public interest requires the municipality to purchase, or if the schedules of property submi…

A meeting of every town shall be held annually on the second Tuesday of March, or in accordance with RSA 40:13 if that provision is adopted in the town, for the choice of town officers and the transaction of all other town business. A town meeting may be warned by the selectmen, …

Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 39:1 any town which adopts a fiscal year accounting period pursuant to RSA 31, may by majority vote, hold its annual town meeting on the second Tuesday of May for the selection of town officers and the transaction of all other town business. …

I. A town may hold its town meeting outside the geographical boundaries of the town, if the town does not have a facility with a large enough seating capacity to accommodate the meeting. II. Warrants and other items required to be posted shall be posted for review by qualified vo…

An updated checklist shall be used at all town meetings and elections as provided in RSA 669:5.

If the biennial or annual meeting in any town shall not have been held, or if there has never been any legal meeting of the town; or if, by reason of death, removal from the town, disability or resignation of the board of selectmen, no member of the board remains in office, a jus…

The warrant of a justice of the superior court for a town meeting shall be under his hand, directed to the sheriff or a deputy sheriff of the county in which the town is situate; it shall specify the time, place and object of such meeting and shall be served and returned in the s…

Any town may, by vote, prescribe a different method of warning meetings; and the meetings warned in pursuance of such vote shall be legal and valid.

If the selectmen neglect to issue a warrant for any town meeting or town election or neglect to cause copies of such warrant, if not directed to a constable, to be duly posted, or notice of such meeting or election to be given agreeably to any vote of the town, they shall for eac…

Whenever any adjournment of any town meeting shall fall upon a Sunday, it shall be held on the next secular day thereafter, at the same time and place, and the proceedings thereon at that time shall be of the same force and validity as if the meeting had been adjourned thereto.

The warrant for any town meeting shall be under the hands of the selectmen, and shall prescribe the place, day and hour of the meeting, and, if there is an election at said meeting, in which an official printed ballot containing more than one name is used, the warrant therefor sh…

I. Any town may at an annual meeting vote to conduct the choice of town officers elected by an official ballot and other action required to be inserted on said official ballot on the second Tuesday of March or on the second Tuesday of May if the town has adopted the provisions of…

The warrant for any town meeting shall provide that polls at the additional polling place, if any, shall open at the same time as the polls at the central polling place.

Upon the written application of 25 or more registered voters or 2 percent of the registered voters in town, whichever is less, although in no event shall fewer than 10 registered voters be sufficient, presented to the selectmen or one of them not later than the fifth Tuesday befo…