WINDHAM — When voters head to the ballot box on Nov. 5, they will have three choices for the three-year Town Council South seat: incumbent Donna Chapman, Nick Kalogerakis and Gartay Yekeh.
Chapman said she was motivated to run again when she “found out who was starting to run” for council. She is concerned about maintaining an affordable tax base in town, especially since “everybody is already saying that their taxes went up.”
Donna Chapman
Nick Kalogerakis
Gartay Yekeh
If reelected, she would also like “to continue the work that I’ve done with the natural resources in town,” which she sees as “vitally important.”
Chapman said she would like to see commercial growth in town improve, yet she is also concerned that Windham is “growing so fast and changing that people are afraid that they moved to a rural community that will not be remaining rural very long.”
When asked how she would work to make the council more civil and productive, she responded that “civility works both ways.”
“It’s not personal for me, it’s business. We have to take care of the town’s business for those who elected us, whether we like each other or not,” Chapman said.
Kalogerakis is a member of the Planning Board and has served on two other town committees, but he’s ready to become more involved. “Being on those three boards, there’s been some frustrations serving the community in the capacity I’ve had, and the frustrations can only be solved at the council end, and I just don’t see that happening,” he said.
He would like to work on building a town sewer and addressing the town’s rate of growth, which both necessitate focusing on infrastructure.
Growth is “happening so fast and we’re not prepared and we haven’t done anything to stall it or slow it down,” he said.
Kalogerakis would encourage the council to work together: “We need a level of professionalism. At times, (the council has) been quite embarrassing.”
One of his first conversations with the council, he said, would be “about this is how we need to act. We need to have a united front. You all ran to take a town position, and with that comes the responsibility of being professional.”
Yekeh decided to run in order to contribute to the town and become more involved with the community.
He would like to focus on planning for the town’s future: “What are the future plans? We want to move forward with getting some development things done, but how well can we plan for the future?”
Yekeh said he enjoys the rural character of the town but “We don’t want to be left behind in development. How well are we reserving these things for our children and our children’s children?”
He said he would focus on listening to his constituents and would also like to work on taking care of the town’s elderly citizens, creating more affordable community housing and keeping taxes low.
Yekeh said he is open minded and brings a new perspective to the council: “Reaching across the aisle is a very important thing. I have more of an independent perspective when it comes to how our policies should be implemented.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
