Town of Exeter Local Government: Serving the Exeter Community
By KAROLINA KOZAK, AMERSON LIANG, V MURDAYA, MARVIN SHIM and ANNIE ZHU
Beyond the gates of the Academy lies the Town of Exeter, and a community of many who have called this place home for generations. Centuries-old buildings, businesses, and restaurants that are run by locals or families anchor the town. Exeter is much more than a beautiful backdrop to the Academy — it is a thriving community complete with its own local government, large-scale events, and well-preserved historical appeal. As the town continues to grow, the local government is at the forefront of addressing the needs of its residents, including long-time families, newcomers, and local businesses, while preserving the town’s distinct character. This week, The Exonian sought to pop the Exeter bubble and understand how the Exeter town government works as a whole.
Exeter is considered a Senate Bill 2 (SB2) town with a select board acting as the governing body and a Town Manager appointed as the chief administrative officer of the town. A select board is an executive arm responsible for calling town meetings, proposing budgets to the town meetings, setting public policy, calling elections, licensing, setting certain fees, overseeing certain volunteer and appointed bodies, and creating basic regulations. This form of governance is distinct to the New England area. There are five select board members in Exeter, elected to staggered terms at the Town Election in March of each year, as well as committees that govern the various aspects of the town.
“The Town Manager’s office works closely with the select board and department heads, so they act as the main decision-makers as far as staff go,” Media Communications Coordinator Bob Glowacky explained. “We all report to the select board.”
“Exeter works closely with a number of state agencies on government programs and policies. Examples are the Department of Public Works working with the New Hampshire DOT on road and right-of-way issues, the town’s Land Use Department working with NHDES on various initiatives, and our Conservation Commission working alongside the NHDES on wetlands permit applications,” Town Manager Russ Dean shared. “The town works closely with the New Hampshire Municipal Association where emails are received each week about potential updates and changes to RSA’s, House bills, etc,. Employees also regularly attend educational sessions and conferences.”
Dean elaborated on the process behind the funding of these various projects and initiatives. “The town goes through a comprehensive budget process that starts with town departments submitting budget requests to the Town Manager in August of each year,” Dean stated. “Those requests are vetted with the town department heads and eventually form the preliminary budget request that is passed on to the select board and Budget Recommendations Committee. The Budget Recommendations Committee then meets with the different town departments and makes recommendations to the select board on the budget. The select board then determines the recommended budget which moves forward to the Deliberative Session for discussion.”
As the select board hashes out a variety of issues, they emphasize keeping the town residents up to date on their projects. “Exeter communicates with its residents in many different ways. Exeter has a government TV channel, and also use the web, email blasts, Facebook, and YouTube to get information about its government out to the general public. The town also holds board meetings that are open to the public,” Dean noted.
Select board member Nancy Belanger described the communication between the residents and the select board. “When the select board receives emails from residents they are acknowledged and forwarded to the department head responsible for the inquiry. The department head will pull together any relevant information and send a memo to the Town Manager and select board. That memo is typically included in the next select board meeting packet. Both the Town Manager, Chair of the select board, and other members of the board reach out to individuals with information gathered for their inquiry.”
Glowacky, as an Executive Producer of Exeter TV, also spoke about how information is relayed through media. “Our main responsibility is to really make the government accessible. We have on-demand and live Apple TV and Roku as well as YouTube and our website. People can watch any government decisions happening live on our channels, which I think is cool and preserves the record.”
He continued, “The biggest challenge is that with the town, there’s just so much information that both we want to get out to the public and that residents want from us. The town website is a good example of that. The information one is searching for on a website shouldn’t be more than three clicks away, but we have dozens or hundreds of reports of government documents and records and all of that stuff. And someone will come to me and say, ‘Hey, I can’t find it on the website.’ So we took the data, instead of just us trying to decide what viewers are going to see on our webpage, and we picked the stuff that the people want to see the most, and tried to make that more accessible.”
“We’re making sure that everyone can stay informed and we can get our information out there because unfortunately, with the lack of print and journalism on the decline, and we don’t really have statewide or regional TV coverage of local issues, it’s lacking. And with social media nowadays, there’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Glowacky acknowledged. “That’s why we feel it’s important to be on social media, on our official platforms, pointing people to the correct information on our website. There’s so many platforms out there and so much information [...] Trying to get that information out and get people to participate as well, that’s our next step. How can we go from just getting information out to getting people to give us information back and engage with us.”
When asked about how the town’s administration collaborates with local schools and community organizations, Glowacky emphasized how closely PEA engages with local governance: “Phillips Exeter students often come to select board meetings and watch the meetings.” Additionally, Glowacky noted the potential for partnerships between PEA and Exeter’s media outlets, saying, “I’m personally really interested in what may be Exeter TV and the Exonian and other clubs at PEA…what sort of partnerships we could have in the future.”
This interaction extends beyond discussions, as “a lot of town committees actually have PEA staff on them because either teachers or staff in the administration of PEA live in Exeter and volunteer for the town. PEA is a huge part of Exeter, physically, in the amount of space it has, and its history. So I think it’s an important part to keep that collaboration going and look for new ways to do it.”
Dean explained, “The town and Phillips Exeter Academy work together on a number of different fronts from PEA security working with our Police Department to Parks/Recreation working with PEA facilities on facility use and access issues.
From an administrative perspective, “the PEA Principal and Town Manager have periodic conversations on issues of joint relevance,” with Principal Rawson actively participating in select board meetings to provide updates on developments at PEA. On a sentimental note, Dean added, “The community appreciates and enjoys the energy and diversity that PEA students and faculty bring to town,” adding that local businesses benefit greatly from the presence of the Academy.
The local government of Exeter plays a crucial role in shaping the town’s landscape, balancing the needs of its population while preserving its historic charm. Moving forward, the collaboration between Exeter’s local government and PEA will be integral to dealing with shared challenges and fostering a sense of community. Through ongoing dialogue and proactive measures, Exeter can set a standard for harmonious coexistence and mutual growth, ensuring a bright future for all who call it home.