Hide your wallets and lock your doors because once again officials in the Windham town hall have placed citizens under another sewercide watch.

The last proposed sewer project for Windham was overwhelmingly defeated by voters who saw the project as costly without any direct benefit for the majority of property owners. Also remember municipal funds were used to coerce them into approving the proposed sewer plan. I am not against having a sewer system for the North Windham business area, it just has to be a system that pays for itself instead of taxing every property owner in town.

After watching how the previous sewer project was initiated and the bureaucratic bungling that occurred, citizens should once again be observant to what is happening in town hall with the process of initiating a new sewer project for Windham. I noticed that some officials have referred to the 2003 Windham Comprehensive Plan as one reason for a sewer system for North Windham. It’s a comprehensive plan that was never approved by the state of Maine because it was lacking important details in order to be complete. A new committee is in the beginning stage of being formed to update the comprehensive plan, which should have been done long ago. I blame Windham and Maine officials for not completing the first plan.

The discussion of a new sewer proposal during the recent council workshop more or less loosely focused on what type of sewer system might be the best project to have for the business district and maybe some of the surrounding areas around the district. There are many options to choose from including something similar to the previous proposal but I have the sense a better option might be to have some type of sewer system in North Windham. Evidently there are even enhanced septic systems that might act like sewage treatment plants. Maybe each property owner in North Windham could install their own enhanced sewage treatment system but I have no idea what the costs would be on that.

I am mentioning the possibility of a new sewer proposal for the business district because I want people aware of it as Windham has a long history of paying for studies that end up accomplishing nothing but gathering dust on a shelf. I do sense that the Environmental Protection Agency will eventually mandate that every municipality that has any ground water issues will have to build some type of treatment plant. It’s best Windham continue the discussions on that and it will be up to the citizens to approve what they feel best. My feelings are no different than how I feel about the federal subsidies on AMTRAK. I don’t use it so I don’t want to assist someone else who could afford to pay the full cost of their ticket.

Since the city of Portland is thinking about instituting a storm water runoff tax, maybe that should be discussed along with a sewer system for North Windham’s business district. After all, some of the groundwater contamination is coming from the use of products like sodium chloride (rock salt or brine), sodium magnesium or calcium chloride. I would be happy with just using sand on roads because I don’t have the need for speed as many of Maine’s incompetent drivers do.

I will watch even more closely because of a Town Council vote to postpone a vote on the appointment of a volunteer to a town committee on the same night. The reason the council chair gave was he needed more time to know the applicant. Really? That person is a former department head so that reason makes no sense at all. Councilors Noel, Call, Hayman and Anania voted for the postponement and Councilors Gleason, Nadeau and Welch voted against it.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham will be uglier than a rabid bear if he doesn’t get his retirement check because of incompetence in the U.S. Congress.