Who to Contact About an Issue: Town, School, State or Federal

Which office to contact about a problem or a law, from potholes and sidewalks to a state program or a federal agency, and how to find the people who hold it.

Checked against its sources October 25, 2026.

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At a Glance

Start with whoever runs the thing. Town roads, sidewalks, trash and local rules are your town or city’s: its departments, then the selectboard or city council. Schools are the school board’s. A state program is the state agency’s that runs it, and a state law or bill is your state representatives’ and senator’s. A problem with a federal agency, such as Social Security, veterans’ benefits or a passport, is what your U.S. senators’ and representative’s offices help with.

What is it about?
- A road, a sidewalk, trash, a local ruleYour town or city: the department, then the selectboard or city council.
- A schoolThe school, then the superintendent and the school board.
- A state program or a state lawThe state agency for a program; your state representatives and senator for a law or a bill.
- A federal agency or a federal lawYour U.S. senators and U.S. representative.
Not sure? Ask any of them: an office that cannot help usually knows who can.

Step by Step

Start here

Find who represents you
Choose your town to see everyone who represents it, from your state representatives to your members of Congress, each with a page here.
Find your town

Who handles what

Your town or city: roads, sidewalks, trash and local rules
Most everyday problems are local. Your town or city maintains its own roads and repairs its sidewalks, and runs or arranges trash and recycling.
Start with the department that handles it, such as public works for a pothole or a broken sidewalk. If that does not settle it, contact the selectboard or your city councilor. A change to the town’s budget or rules may go to town meeting.
How towns and cities are run
The law: RSA 41:8, RSA 41:11, RSA 47:1, RSA 231:3, RSA 231:113, RSA 149-M:17
Schools
A question about your child starts with the teacher and the principal. A district policy, a budget or a decision of the district is for the superintendent and the school board, the district’s governing body, which provides its schools.
Town meeting and local government
The law: RSA 189:1
A state program or agency
Start with the agency that runs the program: the Division of Motor Vehicles for a license, the Department of Health and Human Services for SNAP or Medicaid, and so on. Each guide here links the agency’s page.
If you cannot get an answer, the Governor’s office takes requests for help from residents: call its Constituent Services at (603) 271-7676, or choose Request Assistance on its contact page. Your Executive Councilor, one of five elected by district every two years, serves, in the Council’s own words, as an advocate for the people and their eyes and ears in Concord. The Council’s office is at (603) 271-3632.
Contact the Governor's office The Executive Council
A state law or a bill
Your state representatives and state senator vote on the bills that make and change New Hampshire’s laws. Contact them about a bill, or to ask for a new law. You can also tell the committee that hears a bill where you stand.
How to contact your legislators How to submit testimony on a bill
A federal agency or a federal law
Your two U.S. senators and your U.S. representative help residents with federal agencies: Social Security, veterans’ benefits, passports, the IRS, citizenship and others. Contact them too about a federal law or bill.
Find your U.S. senators Find your U.S. representative
The county
Your county runs the county jail and the county nursing home, among other things. Its commissioners run it day to day, and its budget is set by the state representatives elected from the county.
How county government works

Common Questions

Who runs a town, and who runs a city?

In a town the selectboard manages the town’s business and may regulate the use of its roads and sidewalks; in a city the city council holds those powers, with the mayor or city manager running the departments.

Can my members of Congress fix a problem with a federal agency?

They cannot promise an outcome, but they can ask the agency for a fair and timely answer.

Why do they ask me to sign a privacy release?

Before they can look into your case, you sign a privacy release, because federal law lets an agency share your records only with your written consent. Each office’s website has its form.