The May 31 deadline has come and gone, bringing to an end a petition drive to overturn the Windham Town Council vote of May 11 regarding a land purchase in Windham Center.
The vote in question authorized the council to spend $400,000 in previously appropriated funds for the acquisition of 23 acres off Gray Road. Because of the central location of the land, most of the councilors felt that the purchase was an opportunity not to be missed. Some local residents contended that the expenditure of the $400,000 should have been decided by the taxpayers of
Windham, not the council.
Such is the reason why Lane Hiltunen of Gray Road started the petition to overturn the vote. The Saturday following the vote, Hiltunen and friend Tom Gleason first presented the local petition at a statewide petition drive for Don’t Mortgage ME. Since then, they have been actively working to collect the 1174 signatures needed to overturn the decision. But weeks of gray days, rain and personal illness has taken its toll on both the petition and the petitioners.
“Illness and the weather killed us,” Hiltunen said. “I’ve been right out flat on my back with a temperature. We’re never going to hold a petition drive in bad weather again.”
Gleason, Hiltunen’s comrade in previous petition drives, has also fallen ill as well. Shortly after the petition began, Gleason had to be rushed to the hospital for pneumonia and had to be placed in the intensive care. And now just as Gleason has been released from the hospital, Hiltunen, suffering from what he believes to be a sinus infection, is also seeking medical treatment.
In lieu of these setbacks, the tandem pair say they were able to collect 400 to 500 signatures. But with the deadline past, those signatures, along with the petitioners’ efforts, are now moot.
“I’m disappointed that we couldn’t get more votes,” Hiltunen said. “Don’t get me wrong, I think they got a good deal (on the land), but for that amount of money it should have gone to the people for a vote.”
As for the land purchase, the town is planning to close on the deal as of June 21. If the purchase goes through as scheduled, the council has speculated that the land may be used for the expansion of the Smith Cemetery which abuts the acreage or a number of other uses including construction of municipal or school buildings.
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