“Don’t steal. The government hates competition.” – Anonymous
Lane/Tommy: We have discussed between ourselves that we should give awards for any type of spending incompetence or for financial excellence. This column is about who deserves an award for being good, bad or ugly.
Lane: I think that the town of Raymond deserves a Good Award for attempting to save taxpayers money. As reported in this paper some of that came from citizen initiatives like Maine’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The cities of Lewiston and Auburn are now trying to combine their police, fire and public works departments. Kudos to them if it saves tax dollars.
Tommy: Windham deserves a Bad Award or, even better, a special award called the We Have Money to Burn Award. Will Windham ever consider combining services or will the town manager continue to expand the size of our local government. Splitting Code Enforcement and Planning Office into two separate offices is a perfect example.
Lane/Tommy: Windham wins the Bad Award because we have citizens that are losing their homes or are being forced to sell their homes. We have to ask whether this is fair as members of Public Works will be riding around town in the Rolls Royce of dump trucks with stainless steel dump bodies? We ask you to ponder this point. Couldn’t they have spent our money more prudently by buying vehicles that cost less than Kenworth trucks? When you purchase a vehicle don’t you buy something within reason? Is the government of Windham living on a champagne budget while we stretch our incomes to live on a beer budget?
Lane: When I look at the lustful spending of our local government, I wonder why they spend for caviar while I survive on peanuts.
Tommy: Who is trying to impress who with this recent purchase of vehicles by Public Works? Do we need parade-quality vehicles or do we need work trucks?
Lane/Tommy: The Good Award goes to the Windham Fire Department for saving tax dollars on the purchase of a demo fire truck. The Fire Department also saved money by using some of the equipment from Engine 7. Yes, we hate to see big money being spent but at least this is a beginning.
Tommy: At a recent council workshop and then a council meeting Fire Chief Hammond, to his credit, fully explained in detail as to why the purchase of a demo fire truck was a good deal for our town. Thank you, Chief Hammond and the Windham Fire Department.
Lane: I agree with Tommy. I can wish that the Windham Public Works director could explain the purchase of Kenworth trucks. The last time we complained about the high cost of replacing trucks for Public Works the Windham town manager explained that was because of the bidding process, the vehicles had to meet rigorous safety standards. He also stated that the mechanics were trained to repair Chevy trucks and that Windham had replacement parts only for Chevys.
Lane/Tommy: Now it is time to give the Ugly Award. A recent petition drive to change the Windham ordinance on mineral extraction (things like gravel pits, rock quarries, etc.) successfully obtained the needed amount of signatures to either have the council approve the proposed ordinance or send it out for referendum. This is how our form of government works in Windham and many communities in the state of Maine. This is called democracy. Countless numbers of citizen soldiers have died for our form of democratic government and today it is still happening.
Tommy: During a recent meeting of the Windham Preservation Committee, which led the petition drive for an ordinance change, it was revealed that someone received a phone call because they had signed the petition. This call came from a pit owner in Windham.
Lane: As many know I am a retired member of our military and a first generation American. What has surprised me the most about Windham is the amount of citizens who fear reprisals for exercising their constitutional rights. This includes voting at the town meeting, speaking in front of town officials or signing petitions. This person surely who made these intimidating phone calls deserves the Ugly Award.
Lane/Tommy: Citizens should have the right to freely express their opinions no matter whether signing a petition, voting or raising their hands at our town meeting. Fear has no place in a free society which leaves us to conclude Windham needs to change its charter. Let’s vote on our budget by secret and absentee ballots on Election Day.
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