Windham to explore charter amendment changing town meeting

By Ed Pierce

Members of the Windham Town Council have agreed to the possibility of changing to a balloted form of town meeting to encourage greater voter participation rather than the currently used in-person town meeting held every June.

From left, Windham Interim Assistant Town Manager
Amanda Lessard briefs Windham Town Councilors Katie
Cook and Maggie Terry about the Presumpscot 2040 
meeting she participated in earlier this month. That
meeting was sponsored by the Casco Bay Estuary
Partnership and discussed the future of the Presumpscot
River and its impact upon residents of the Lakes Region 
of Maine. PHOTO  BY ED PIERCE    

During a meeting on Feb. 10, councilors discussed inviting the town attorney to an upcoming meeting to explain how the process of amending the town charter to make the switch could work. Windham Town Manager Bob Burns advised councilors that the process does take time and would need to be completed by August so it could be given to the town clerk so voters could vote regarding the charter amendment in November.

During a marathon 4 ½-hour town meeting on Saturday June 14, Windham’s $8.9 million budget was eventually passed through a series of unexpected developments. With more than 130 Windham residents on hand for the Annual Town Meeting at Windham Town Hall, concerned voters questioned nearly each of the 30 town warrant articles, wanting explanations for increases in spending and sharing their opinions about budgeting proposals put forward by the Windham Town Council. The first six out of the 30 warrant articles were approved following discussions and clarifications but those in attendance rejected Article 7 asking for approval of a municipal budget of $39.9 million, requiring votes for each of the next 11 articles.

Among those, only Article 8, asking for an increase of 11.39 percent and $8.9 million funding general government operations for fiscal year 2025-2026 was defeated by voters as determined by the moderator. Article 8 included funding for Windham Town Hall offices and services and some contractual expenses, such as benefits for town police officers. All the other warrant articles were approved by voters, except for Articles 24, 25, 26, and 27, those dealt specifically with creating and funding a new public skating rink and playground in North Windham at a cost of $3 million and renovations to Gambo Park with new soccer field, recreational trails and improved parking at an expense of $3 million. Article 22, a proposal to construct a new North Windham Public Safety Building behind Hannaford Supermarket off Route 302, involved a lengthy discussion and many questions raised by voters about acquiring the site property, housing a Cumberland County Sheriff’s Patrol Office in the building, and the need to replace the current North Windham Fire Station on Route 302, a structure built in 1960.

After the 30 warrant articles had been discussed and voted upon, a review ensued about what the implications of the rejection of Article 8 would mean, including the difficulty of rescheduling and legally posting another town meeting, shutting down Windham Town Hall on July 1, potentially laying off employees and not having necessary revenue to meet contractual bills and defaulting on town obligations. By this time, and after four hours, at least half of residents attending had left the meeting.

A series of actions then happened that reversed the earlier vote on Article 8. A voter who had voted no previously then formally made a motion to change his vote, and then a second voter who had voted no to Article 8 previously made a motion to change their vote too and seconded the motion on the floor to reopen the article. Following a discussion about amending the budget, a vote to amend the $8.9 million was voted down and then Article 8 as originally proposed was then passed by those in attendance.

It led to criticism that some residents attending the meeting felt disenfranchised having their vote overturned after they had left the meeting and prompted town councilors to ponder if the in-person town meeting could be changed to a ballot vote like what RSU 14 uses to approve its annual budget by voters.

A straw poll taken during the town council meeting indicated that Councilors Maggie Terry, Mark Morrison, and Katie Cook agreed to explore a potential charter amendment with Councilor David Nadeau opposed. Burn told the council that Councilor Bill Reiner favored moving ahead with that but wasn’t sure about how Councilor Doug Fortier or Councilor Brett Jones felt about the issue. With four votes in favor of that, Burns said he would invite the town attorney to a future council meeting to discuss this issue further. Fortier, Jones and Reiner were not at the meeting.

In other actions from the Windham Town Council meeting on Feb. 10, councilors appointed Councilor Doug Fortier to a new steering committee for the East Windham Conservation area and learned that Town Manager Burns has met with all town departments who are in the process of putting together budgets for Fiscal Year 2027. <