At the Hanover Selectboard meeting on Monday, members wrestled with Republican New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s recent ban on sanctuary cities and voted to hold a public hearing on the matter on Nov. 3.
In May, Ayotte signed H.B. 511 into law, mandating that local police, typically governed by municipal bodies, comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Hanover could face legal action and a 25% reduction in state funding if it does not revise its Fair and Impartial Policing Ordinance by Jan. 1, 2026, according to town manager Robert Houseman.
At the Monday meeting, Houseman proposed a rewritten ordinance to allow local police to cooperate with ICE agents more easily.
“No policy or practice of the town or department shall prohibit or impede communication or cooperation with federal immigration agencies regarding inmates,” the proposed ordinance states.
Still, Houseman said that Hanover is “very committed to fair and impartial policing.”
“The question is, how do we honor that in a way that gets us into compliance [with state law]?,” he said.
The Selectboard wrote the current Fair and Impartial Policing Ordinance during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests amid nationwide calls for police reform and advocacy from Dartmouth students.
Houseman said the public hearing on Nov. 3 will gather input from the community that will inform the ordinance revisions.
“The five board members get to take public testimony and then balance that with the overall impact to the community,” Houseman explained in an interview with The Dartmouth after the meeting.
In May, the Department of Homeland Security put Hanover on a list of sanctuary cities because of local immigration laws. This endangered all federal funding the town receives — including a $22 million loan for the wastewater treatment plant, Houseman said. Hanover was removed from the list two days later when Ayotte signed the ban on sanctuary cities in New Hampshire.
Houseman emphasized the importance of the ordinance to the community.
“We have undocumented students,” Houseman said. “We have international students who are deeply stressed by what’s going on at a national level. They’re part of our community. They have a right to be here. It’s not criminal to be undocumented.”
The Selectboard also voted on Monday to create a “sustainability dashboard” to track the “tangible” benefits of the town’s “sustainability master plan.” According to Selectboard member Jennie Chamberlain, the dashboard will allow the citizens to see “how many sidewalks were repaired this year, how many trees were planted.”
In April 2024, the Selectboard adopted the master plan to “guide the town to a more sustainable future” until 2034. The town intends to tackle topics such as economic development, energy, housing, land use and public health.
The Selectboard meets every other Monday at 7 p.m. in the town offices at 41 South Main St. Meetings are open to the public.
