Greetings to our amazing members of NeSSA, our supporting vendors, and future members.

Our 2024 EXPO was held at Foxwoods Resort & Casino May 8-9. Your association celebrated the 10^th anniversary of this joint event in a huge way this year, returning to Foxwoods once again in their impressive new event hall and attracting the largest attendance so far as 400 people participated in this two-day event. This event was so popular we sold out all of the exhibitor booth space some months in advance.

Our educational sessions spanned numerous hot topics from marketing to legal to remote management.  We are grateful to the NHSSA and MeSSA for co-hosting this EXPO and hope to continue collaborating together for future events. Feedback from was extremely positive from attendees and exhibitors alike.

Save the date! The 2025 EXPO is on the calendar for May 14-15 back at Foxwoods once again! I hope to see you there.

I would like to acknowledge my appreciation that the lion’s share of the work to hold this event was from our Executive Director Courtney’s efforts and expertise. During the event both Courtney and Mary Ann greeted every guest and made sure the event ran like a well-oiled machine. Kudos to them!

Our next event is the fan-favorite Fall Retreat taking place September 24th at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge, MA. Speakers for this year's event include self storage attorney Scott Zucker, Lou Barnholdt from Universal Storage Group, and SSA's own Tim Dietz. Sponsorships for this event sold out in 2023, so I would encourage vendors interested in attending to act quickly. Registration is already available on our website and space is limited, so we hope to see you there!

I’d like to congratulate our scholarship recipients for this year: Ryan MacDonald and Aurora Rutkowski. And thank you to everyone who has donated and participated in our fundraising efforts. If you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation to our fund, you can do so online or reach out to Courtney in the office.

We are monitoring bills in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island with SSA's legislative team:

• MA's bill will better protect operators by clarifying some aspects of the current lien law, such as allowing electronic signatures and amending the definition of "abandoned lease space."
• RI's bill is once again attempting to try to eliminate the newspaper notice requirement.
• More information on both of these bills can be found on NeSSA's Latest News section online.

Nominations for 2025 board seats will be open soon! Be on the lookout for an email with instructions to apply in the next few weeks. The workload is minimal, but the benefits are endless. I personally encourage independent operators, no matter how large or small your facility, to consider a term on the NeSSA board. It’s a great opportunity to grow, learn, and contribute to this great organization.

Yours for better storage,

Charlie Fritts
President of NeSSA