“When’s there’s an elephant in the room you can’t pretend it isn’t there and just discuss the ants.”
Ellen Wittlinger, author

I was going to write another column about my driving experiences the past few months in Maine, but that changed after watching last week’s Windham town council meeting. No, don’t get the idea that the town councilors did anything wrong, because the meeting was basically too short in order for that to happen. Or least I hope so. During public participation the ugly curse of the Windham Code Enforcement Office came up for discussion once again, and I wonder if that will ever end. Make no mistake about it, I wonder how our government at all levels professes to work for us and yet it holds so much power over us at the same time. Think about it, if government works for us why did the government get the gold mine and we get the shaft? More on that later.

I wonder why Windham has had such a significant problem with its code enforcement office the past few years. I talk a lot with people from other communities and none of those communities seem to have a problem with code enforcement that Windham apparently has. It has been going on for quite a few years, so it is time for a discussion as to why Windham has had such a long stretch of complaints against its Code Enforcement Office. Is the problem caused by the town manager hiring the wrong people? Is it a problem because those working in code enforcement don’t have enough training or experience? Or, is it because the majority of town councilors just don’t give a damn one way or the other as to what happens to Windham residents? Somewhere there is an answer, and at this point I seriously doubt that the town of Windham residents will know where that answer will come from.

Please don’t think I am just writing about Windham here, because the same is happening in other places as well, including Portland where the sign gods and goddesses control what businesses can have for signs in the city’s historical, or hysterical, districts. Give a municipal committee power to do something and I can guarantee that they certainly will. Before someone complains about that thought, yes, it probably did start because someone wanted to do something outrageous, but the overkill that resulted is far worse than the original problem.

There is one thing I cannot stand in government at any level and that is hypocrites. Just take a look at Portland for instance. My primary care physician is at the Portland Veterans Clinic, with which I am very content with the care that I receive there. What bothers me the most about going there is the amount of so-called homeless people begging at numerous intersections. But before one complains about me stating such a thing, please take a good look at the bloated salaries of those who are employed by the municipal governments around us.

Can you believe that the lowest paid department heads in the city of Portland make at least $100,000 annually, plus, I am sure, full benefits as well? I did an internet check on Maine’s median household income for 2015 and it was around $50,800. Please note that is for household income. I know that the Windham town manager makes over $100,000 while the superintendent of RSU 14 makes even more. But I hope one also remembers that the government of Portland is complaining that the city has a housing problem. Maybe it’s time for the city, and other municipalities as well, to look at the cost of their government in order to make housing more affordable. I just love the excuse that our government at any level gives for their bloated salaries and benefits packages:  They have to be competitive.

All of the above might seem serious enough but the Windham Town Council has an even larger elephant in the room and that is to appoint someone to the vacant town council seat.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham wonders when the elephant in the room will finally be gone.