“When you are up to your waist in alligators, remember that your objective is to drain the swamp.” -Anonymous.

Lane/Tommy: We think that there are three types of politicians. There are those who live in the past and you can bet that they want things as they once were. Then there are those who live in the present and fight hard against change. What we want are politicians who can look toward the future in order to makes changes that improve our town and our lives. We certainly don’t want Windham, or any other town, to end up a day late and a dollar short.

Lane: This column was conceived after the Nov. 13 Windham Town Council meeting where several items were voted on including approving the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) request to update the traffic signals in North Windham. This plan will help eliminate traffic congestion so motorists can travel through the North Windham business district faster. However, I do wonder how this will be accomplished because after the Whites Bridge Road intersection, Route 302 narrows to two lanes instead of four. Time will tell, that’s for sure.

Tommy: One councilor was promised a workshop by council leadership to discuss the possibility of MDOT installing horizontal traffic lights instead of vertical ones. Nothing is set in stone in a council workshop but it does allow for a full and hopefully productive discussion that allows councilors to make an informed decision on how they might vote at a regular meeting.

A workshop makes for a better flow of information rather than sitting at home reading a printed council packet. As there was no council workshop to my knowledge on horizontal lights for North Windham, discussion was limited to an agenda item on that Tuesday evening. A councilor proposed an amendment to delay the vote in favor of a workshop in the near future but was voted down.

A workshop could have enlightened some councilors as to the benefits of installing a new design of traffic signals. Instead, what I heard were unsubstantiated claims opposing another councilor’s proposed change to make North Windham more attractive to businesses, residents and visitors. One councilor wasn’t confident with facts in past MDOT studies and yet this proposal was fine. Another stated that there was going to be a problem with replacement parts while yet another councilor stated that the project could not be delayed although the project isn’t slated to start until June of 2008, which leads to a question if homework was done.

Lane/Tommy: It is obvious that the Windham Town Council should schedule instructive and enlightening workshops for all items upon which they will be voting on in the future. In the case of the horizontal traffic lights, a councilor went out of the way to work with Windham’s state senator and manufacturers of such traffic lights so that other councilors could see the benefits. That effort was tossed out that fateful Tuesday night. We are not saying that everything must change but we must have a town government that can have a fair and open discussion on suggestions from any councilor.

Tommy: Can any town afford to wait any longer for constructive changes? I think not. While other communities are marching forward into a new millennium, it appears that there are still dinosaurs wandering aimlessly through the halls of government in my town.

Lane and Tommy of Windham are still waiting for the answer to the question as to whom from the Town of Windham negotiated with the developers of the Keddy Mill site. This question has become more important because now the Portland Water District has stated that there are cost overruns with the sewer extension from Westbrook! Of course, there is another question that was asked years ago. How is the total cost of the sewer extension going to be paid for? Fifty or so users of that system are not going to be able to pay for nearly $2 million in debt to the Portland Water District.