I have to hand it to the Windham Town Council, that’s for sure. All I have to do is watch one meeting and I have enough stuff to fill dozens of columns, and the meeting of Tuesday, April 26, was certainly no different.

Whether it’s a councilor’s apparel or whether it’s one of the comments made during discussion, friends of mine who watch the councilors in action on their computers have asked me why I live in Windham, to which I reply it really is a good place to live, especially if you write about politics.

As I write this column, a Maine company is rebuilding Route 202 from the Swett Road to the River Road and there is an abundance of equipment like excavators and dump trucks creating a racket outside of my house. I am also somewhat distracted by the removal of Osama bin Laden from this planet, which is all one sees when watching any news on the television.

When it comes to what town councilors should wear at meetings, I guess it’s time that the town create an ordinance which covers what is appropriate to wear and what is not appropriate to wear at meetings. A prime example of what not to wear was Councilor Peter Busque showing up at the last meeting wearing a T-shirt with the logo of his newly formed concrete company. That was, at the least, tacky, and in some towns he would have been told by the council chairperson to change to more appropriate attire. At the point I must also mention that he handed out business cards of that same company when he was attending another meeting as a town councilor. But then again, this is the council where snickers commonly occur from some councilors when a member of the public is speaking to them.

During that same meeting the councilors discussed approving the Legal Counsel and Indemnification Policy, which basically is an insurance policy to cover their butts when they screw something up. Actually, it’s better to state it protects them when one of us think they screwed something up and with this council, that’s something that happens at some meetings. It doesn’t cover them when they do something illegal, which I am sure has never happened before in the town of Windham (wink, wink). The problem with that is someone has to make the determination that something illegal was done, and that, like all things political, takes a lot of time.

Councilor Busque undoubtedly made the best comment of the discussion when he stated he was “out of there” if the policy was not passed that night.

It is blatantly obvious to me that our town leaders play catch-up more frequently than other communities around the state of Maine and the indemnification policy is just one example. It’s something that should have been in place ever since Windham’s town council/town manager form of government was created. Perhaps the next question that should be asked is how much will this CYA (as Busque referred to it) insurance costs, where the money will come from because it presently isn’t in the budget and who will provide the insurance to the town.

Another thing that someone missed was the reporting on any new councilors during last November’s election to the Maine Municipal Association so that each councilor can obtain information from that organization. Councilor Gleason attempted to obtain information about the counsel and indemnification policy and could not because he was not listed as a Windham town councilor. That leads me to believe someone is clueless in the MMA because they could have checked Windham’s website to see if he was a councilor for Windham.

One of the things I feared the most by combining the formal council meetings with council workshops is that controversial agenda items would be ramrodded through in one night without time for councilors, especially those who really do research, to find enough information in order to make an intelligent decision when they vote. Council Gleason asked for additional time to do research and was turned down by all the other councilors, which makes me believe their butts really do need an insurance policy. It kind of makes me wonder if we should do away with legal counsel and use the money for insurance for the councilors’ action, or lack of action.

Lane Hiltunen lives in Windham.