WINDHAM-The recent acquisition of several properties throughout town has led to a call for more residents to become involved in its government.
Selectboard Member Michael Pelton said the town is proposing creating three committees: one focused on maintenance and operations, another on capital planning, and one dedicated to community spaces and activities.
Pelton said the town would need between nine and 20 volunteers to serve on the committees to evenly distribute the workload in managing all the properties of the town.
The proposal is for there to be somewhere between three to seven people per group, he said. However, that number could vary, with the maintenance and operations and capital planning committees possibly only needing as few as two or three people each, he said, and the community spaces and activities committee possibly needing more help.
Pelton said while there would initially be a lot of work for both the maintenance and operations committee and the capital planning committee, the workload would lessen for those two committees over time, whereas the community spaces and activities committee would have more consistent work, which would likely include organizing events and determining how the buildings would be used, among other functions.
There is a lot of work to be done specifically on the Windham Meeting House (acquired in 2020), the former Windham Elementary School building (which the town is in the process of purchasing from the school district), and a 75-acre former talc mine (donated to the town in 2024).
As part of the revitalization of the Windham Meeting House, some construction may occur this winter to insulate the bottom floor so that the building can be used year-round. Some of the programming will likely be shifted to the former school building, Pelton said.
The former talc mine property is undergoing environmental testing, and Pelton said he believes by next August work can begin on that property. Residents are eager to use the site due to its woods, deep lake, open fields, and mountain views.
Other properties include the town garage and the town office.
In addition to some physical work, the committees would also be responsible for creating budgets to help maintain the properties. While the committees would not be responsible for putting together budgets for this coming year, Pelton said ideally they will be formed by December so that group members can observe the budget process. With that understanding, they would prepare budgets starting with the following year.
Currently, the only committee dedicated to managing a town property is the the Windham Meeting House Committee. Formed when the town purchased the property, it has performed a variety of tasks in relation to the building.
Once the three committees are formed, though, Pelton said the Meeting House Committee will be dissolved. While he anticipates that some of its members will volunteer to serve on one or more of the new committees, he said it would take more than just its four members.
"The challenge is I think we're such a small community. There's a lot of people in our community that are already doing so much," Pelton said.
The town is trying to get the word out about the need for volunteers and will likely begin making phone calls soon to recruit people.
Pelton indicated that while the Selectboard does represent the town and could manage the properties, board members would prefer that a wider segment of the community be involved in managing the properties.
"I think ultimately the Selectboard doesn't want to be the one that's sort of telling the town how to use the buildings and that's why we want the committees to do the work," Pelton said. "Because they're the ones that represent the town - really, because they are town."
This News item by Brandon Canevari was written for The Commons.