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Taking A Hike   Town faces $750,000 tax shortfall
Windham’s trail system draws all ages, abilities   Manager reports excise taxes dramatically reduced
 
Windham resident Carene Ramsay and her beagle, Jewel, take a walk along Chaffin Pond. Dawn De Busk photo
 

By Dawn De Busk

North Windham resident Carene Ramsay and her beagle, Jewel, can be seen walking through the neighborhoods of Shore and Anglers’ roads.

One of her favorite, close-by jaunts – the trail at Chaffin Pond – has been flooded since September. So, Ramsay has been checking out other trail systems to get her daily dose of fresh air and exercise for herself and Jewel.

Ramsay often stops and talks with residents who are working in their yards and other people who are out for a walk. Sometimes, neighbors slow down in their vehicles and chat with her through an open window while Jewel sniffs around or lies down to catch some late-autumn sun rays through the duration of the conversations.

“People ask me, ‘Where is a good place to go walking?’” Ramsay said.

Finding a good trail system is something she’s been trying to obtain for her own well-being, she said.

Windham Parks and Recreation Director Brian Ross said the department’s part-time maintenance worker unplugged the culvert on the south side of the trail, where a small stream flows into Chaffin Pond and had been flowing over the footpath – blocking it for hikers without waterproof footwear.

“We opened it up, and we’re going to put a bridge across it,” Ross said. “With the water-level dropping, the Chaffin Pond trail will be more passable.” ...More-->
 

By Dawn De Busk

While Windham residents have been catching snippets of the congressional hearings on whether or not to provide a multi-million dollar financial bailout for America’s “big three” automakers, Windham Town Manager Tony Plante has been calculating the drop in the town’s excise tax revenue and how that might impact town services.

“It’s our single largest non-property tax source of revenue. It helps pay for town services,” Plante told the Windham Town Council on Tuesday.

“This is one revenue we pay attention to very closely,” Plante said, of the tax the town receives through the registration of vehicles based on their value.

Plante predicts by the end of the fiscal year, the town will likely face a revenue shortfall between $700,000 and $750,000.

For the month of October, the excise tax was down $61,000 from October 2007, he said.

According to the town charter, when there is a revenue shortfall on the horizon, the town manager must report it to the town council, inform the council of remedial action that has taken place, and then work on additional strategies to counter the shortfall, Plante said.

Some of his immediate fixes have been to announce last week a freeze on spending to all his department heads.

“I’ve put a hold on any new capital purchases,” Plante said.

He added that Public Works Director Doug Fortier had been preparing several purchase proposals for the council’s review, but those expenditures will be put on hold.

Any leftover money from the road resurfacing fund won’t go back into that fund, but will be used to cover the shortfall, Plante said.

In addition, Plante said the town will not fill vacant positions – except for those already going through the hiring process including a public safety officer and a full-time seasonal driver who was hired for wintertime duties in the public works department.

Councilor Donna Chapman asked Plante if the town might consider going to a four-day workweek like the Town of Gray has.

He said that might be an option, but it certainly hasn’t been decided.

Councilor Liz Wisecup advocated for cutting back on town employees’ hours rather than laying those people off. ...More-->
 
Council considers youth component
Board hears about successes from similar Lewiston group

By Dawn De Busk

The Windham Town Council reviewed the idea of creating a local youth council during its workshop Tuesday; and although there was an option to vote next week on establishing a youth council, the general consensus was to first hold a public input meeting to see if community members supported the concept.

Three members of the 15-person Lewiston Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) talked about some of LYAC’s successes: Going through the process to get Lewiston named American City of the Year, creating film called Smashed about underage drunk driving that will be used in the state’s driver education classes, pushing to have a digital sign installed at the high school, designing a comic book on the connection between noise pollution and loss of hearing, and starting a Trash and Recycling Committee to study and prevent litter problems in the city.

  

“People say youth are the future. But, youth are the present,” said 17-year-old Luke Jensen, the LYAC Chair.

The LYAC includes students from varied backgrounds, and an all-adult committee selects those youth council members, according to Jensen. Also, LYAC projects are paid for through fundraising, rather than from money in the city budget, Jensen said.

“We’ve raised a lot of money. We don’t ask the town for much,” he said.

According to PROP’s Community Promoting Healthy Coalition Project Manager Chanda Sinclair, if the town council approved a youth council in Windham ...More-->
 
Regional newspaper cuts 6 jobs

The Lakes Region Weekly is the latest
local paper hurt by the slow economy

By Michael Hartwell

David Harry, editor of the Lakes Region Weekly newspaper, was one of six employees let go last week in what the parent company is calling a “restructuring.”

“We didn’t have any layoffs, we did eliminate some positions,” said Lee Hews, publisher of the Maine-based newspaper company Current Publishing, which owns six weekly papers in Southern Maine. Hews said the company has moved around people and responsibilities within the office because of tough economic times.

David Harry declined comment to The Independent.

Hews said there were two positions eliminated from the editorial and administration

 

departments, another two from the graphics department, and a fifth from Internet-based advertising. She said two employees were offered different jobs within the company, one of them took the offer and the other didn’t.

Some employees were promoted and given more responsibilities, according to Hews, such as one reporter who is in charge of arts and entertainment news in addition to the towns she already covered.

“David’s not there,” said Hews, “But we’ll still have the same coverage in the area.” She said Harry’s workload will be handled by other editors and the amount of pages in each issue will depend on the amount of advertising received. ...More-->
 
 
 
 
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