The Windham Town Council on Tuesday appointed Donna Chapman to serve as its new chairwoman and Dennis Welch as new vice chairman.

Chapman, who represents the South district, replaces David Nadeau, who is in his second term and will continue to represent the East district until 2017. Chapman’s term on the council expires next year.

Nadeau was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, and the councilors did not engage in discussion before appointing Chapman and Welch to their positions in separate 5-0 votes. Chapman previously served as the vice chairwoman of the council, and Welch served as a councilor-at-large. Welch previously served a stint as vice chairman two years ago.

Welch, whose term on the council expires in 2018, was re-elected to the council on Nov. 3. On Tuesday he was officially sworn in to serve as councilor-at-large, along with Timothy Nangle, who will represent the West district.

The change in leadership comes after Windham voters on Election Day rejected a proposal to borrow $7.7 million to build a new, 29,000-square-foot public works/school transportation maintenance building. Nadeau, who has long been a proponent for capital improvements in town, told the Lakes Region Weekly last week that he was frustrated with the outcome of the Nov. 3 vote and wanted a clear explanation of why residents turned it down.

Town Manager Tony Plante on Tuesday said he was also disappointed and discouraged by the residents’ decision to reject the proposal, given the amount of information the town advertised about the project.

“I suspect before too long we will want to revisit our capital facilities plan and talk about where we go from here,” Plante said during the meeting.

Chapman said she was also disappointed but not “shocked” with the result due to the hefty price tag that came with the project. Windham voters had rejected a $3 million proposal to overhaul the public works building in 1999.

“Seven million dollars is a lot of money in this economy,” said Chapman, who is in her second term on the council. The project would have cost more than $10 million with interest factored.

Despite the vote, Chapman said, she still strongly supports a new public works building in town.

“I try to listen to the voters, and I think they sent us a message,” Chapman told the Lakes Region Weekly, “but I think we have to do something down there.”

Donna Chapman and Dennis Welch were elected Tuesday to serve as chairwoman and vice chairman, respectively, of the Windham Town Council.