Windham council reviewing community survey results

By Kaysa Jalbert

Results from the Town of Windham Community Survey about services offered by the town and the range of other issues affecting Windham residents are now going under review by the Windham Town Council to discuss how the staff will use these results to improve deficiencies in the town.

Some members of the Windham Town Council discuss results
of the recent Community Survey during a council workshop
on Thursday, Jan. 23. From left are Councilor John Henry,
Councilor Mark Morrison, Council David Nadeau and
Town Council Chair Jarrod Maxfield.
PHOTO BY ED PIERCE    

The results revealed that when asked what was perceived to be Windham's challenges in the next five years, the response was in order; Pace of Community Growth and Expansion 73 percent, Town Services and Taxes 71 percent, and Affordable housing 50 percent. As these results conclude, there are the conflicting perceptions of too much growth too fast, and the need for affordable housing.

The final survey results were discussed at the Windham Town Council meeting on Jan. 14.

Windham Town Council Vice Chair William Reiner said going forward the council will be reviewing and discussing the results in a systematic way, department by department, topic by topic, to get the best understanding of residents’ thoughts and concerns.

The main services and issue topics in the survey were town services, departments, growth and development, public safety and fire, trash collection, communication and infrastructure. These included specific questions about traffic, housing, recreation, and the town library.

Windham Police Department and Windham Fire Department received some of the most consistent approval ratings. Trash collection while just getting underway with the new system also had high scores.

Town Councilor David Nadeau expressed that with many conflicting answers, the main question council members ask themselves when reviewing the results is, how can I value this? The results also revealed a challenge, he said.

“People don’t want rapid growth and change,” said Nadeau, “How do we stop change and growth?”

On Jan. 23, the Council held a meeting for a workshop to discuss growth. This is a multifaceted topic that pulled in the survey results, state law, downtown traffic evaluation, CPGOG housing data, as well as others. As you can see from the top three concerns, there is the conflicting perception of too much growth too fast and the need for affordable housing. Reiner says to determine how both can be managed will be an ongoing discussion.

At the Jan. 14 Town Council meeting, councilors discussed a general overview of the survey’s responses and the over-all success of the process. The data received will be sorted and ranked from highest to lowest level of satisfaction.

“While it is nice to see what we are doing ‘well’ as a town, and there is quite a bit that is, it is also paramount to see where larger dissatisfactions exist,” says Reiner. “Thus, the town can build on its successes and work to improve other areas in need.”

Another challenge revealed from the survey derives from the response of over 50 percent of Windham’s residents being unsatisfied with North Windham traffic and road access, while simultaneously the second greatest concern over the next five years is town services and taxes.

In addition, roughly 20 percent of residents are unsatisfied with the town halls operating hours, claiming the service should be open till 7 p.m. some days of the week.

Nadeau emphasized that building new roads and routes and paying town hall clerks requires tax money.

“It was all over the place. Many of the answers when you look at them, they contradict each other,” he said. “It’s a long discussion about how to value the wants verses the needs.”

The survey was available both online and by QC codes that were obtained at November’s election polling site and delivered a large amount of information on the town. Just about every service or department in town was addressed.

About a year ago, the Windham Town Council began to look at ways to better communicate between itself and the residents of Windham.

“To get a better understanding of what the Council and town staff were doing right, or could improve on, it was decided to develop this survey,” said Reiner. “The responses could then be correlated to see where we stood. Obviously, the council works for the people, and this was a tool to pick over 800 resident brains so to speak.”

In all, 877 residents responded to the survey. No one under the age of 20 took the survey, 323 respondents were under the age of 60, and 303 were over 60 years old. Another on-going discussion will include how to get more participation from Windham residents and how to increase communication between town staff and residents.

Discussions of the full survey will continue in upcoming council meetings. Highlights will be posted on Facebook and full survey results will be available to the public on the town website. <