Sarah Jackson (left) talks with Hanover Town Manager Rob Houseman after a November 2024 meeting of the Municipal Leaders group, at the Hanover Town Offices.
One core belief of Vital Communities’ work is that our communities do better when we connect and work together.
One critical connector is the Municipal Leaders group. Convened by Vital Communities since 2009, the group meets about eight times a year and brings together municipal managers and elected officials of Upper Valley communities to discuss shared challenges and collaborate on solutions. Set by the group members themselves, the meeting agendas often focus on specific issues, such as several recent sessions that examined the problem of solid waste disposal and making sure that our scarce landfill space isn’t filled with materials that could be recycled or composted.
Other times, the agenda is more free-form, as it was for a recent meeting – the group’s first in-person meeting since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Six people representing five municipalities easily filled an hour with top-of-mind topics such as comparing soaring communities’ soaring home prices and their decreasing percentage of municipal employees who can afford to live in the community they work for, and considering how fostering nightlife helps communities retain the young workers our region critically needs.
Another recent virtual gathering combined the Municipal Leaders group with another body that Vital Communities convenes, the Corporate Council, which brings together top representatives of locally based employers and social service agencies to listen and respond to the challenges employers and their employees face.The meeting included discussions focused on housing, early childhood education, and transportation as well as a time to brainstorm opportunities for collaboration.
Meetings tend to involve the managers from the most central, populous Upper Valley towns and cities although they are open to managers and top elected officials from any Upper Valley municipality. In 2025, the group may aim some meetings specifically at the broader group, on topics that concern all communities.
“I consistently hear from managers about how much they appreciate the opportunity to be connected to other municipal managers and hear what’s happening in their communities and open up opportunities for collaboration,” said Gabrielle Smith, the Vital Communities staff member who facilitates the Municipal Leaders group. “The Upper Valley is a cross-state region. There are other groups that bring municipal managers together but not across state boundaries. And yet the people who live here cross the [Connecticut] river all the time for jobs, shopping, socializing, school. Those managers know we are interdependent across those state lines.”
“Participating in Vital Communities Municipal Leaders has been an invaluable opportunity for me as City Manager of Claremont,” said Yoshi Manale, who has been in his position two years, coming from municipal management in Brattleboro, VT, and, before that, New Jersey. “It provides a space to collaborate with peers, exchange innovative ideas, and address our communities’ shared challenges. I value the insights and networks I gain from this group, as they help strengthen Claremont’s connection to the Upper Valley and allow the city to contribute to a stronger, more resilient region.”