In New Hampshire, most people who serve on city, town and school district boards are volunteers. They’re certainly not in it for the money. If they are being paid at all – and most are not – it probably works out to about 3 cents an hour, or about what a conscientious member of the New Hampshire General Court makes in a year.

We were reminded of that while watching the Nashua Board of Aldermen meeting this week and listening to various aldermen talk about having attended one meeting or another. Then we listened at the end as Board of Aldermen President Brian Mc-Carthy assigned bills to one of the board’s committees. Most people probably only see the aldermen – or school board members – when they meet a couple of times a month, but it’s worth remembering that those meetings typically represent the tip of a rather sizable iceberg.

Nashua aldermen serve on topical committees that consider budget, finance, human affairs, infrastructure, water, planning and economic development, personnel, and substandard living conditions. Each alderman typically serves on four standing committees, plus serves as the board’s liaison to a host of others covering everything from public works and pensions to cable TV and the library.

Likewise, the Board of Education has five standing committees – covering budget, curriculum and evaluation, finance and operations, human resources, and policy – plus a bunch of other ad hoc panels on which members are asked to serve.

Local government is structured that way in many communities, and those committees are where much of the heavy lifting and detail work is done. The demands on an official’s time can be, if you’ll pardon the expression, taxing. But not all positions are so demanding, and many towns are looking for people to fill spots on a multitude of local boards. In Hudson, for instance, selectmen are seeking volunteers to serve on the Building Board of Appeals, Conservation Commission, Municipal Utility Committee, Planning Board, Sustainability Committee and Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Amherst is looking to fill a couple of slots on its Heritage Commission, and Merrimack has a long list on the town website of positions it is looking to fill on various boards and committees.

If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to run a village.

Holding public office is not easy, but the positions can also be rewarding to people who find satisfaction from playing a positive role in their communities.

You could be one of those people.