Capital Improvements Plan Committee Kicks Off 2013 Work

The Capital Improvement Plan Committee met this week to name their new officers and talk about schedules and strategies going forward for 2013.

Citizen volunteer Rob Gustafson will continue to serve as chairman for the second straight year.

Taking over as vice chairman will be Planning Board member Sy Wrenn, who is new to the committee.

Jennifer Simmons, who like Gustafson is a citizen volunteer, will once again take on the role of secretary.

The group held a brief meeting where they squared away their meeting time for the coming months. The committee will meet on Tuesdays at 5 p.m.

Neelima Gogumalla, who also served on the committee last year, suggested there perhaps be an upper limit on CIP requests from various boards and organizations in town.

Capital improvements in Windham are defined as major expenditures of $50,000 or more, typically non-recurring.

There is no ceiling on requests that can be made, but for high requests, the committee often will grant less money.

In 2012, the Windham School Board requested $1,000,000 for "addition of capacity at the middle school level." The CIP committee allocated $630,000 in funds for that request.

The allocation was a major percentage of the CIP funds available, which is currently averaging just north of $1.5 million.

Gustafson said he wasn't sure where the limit would go.

He noted that requests have been down in recent years, which Selectmen Representative Roger Hohenberger said has been driven by the economy.

The committee set a benchmark deadline of July 19 for those trying to make CIP requests, although Community Planner Elizabeth Wood said that those boards or organizations that anticipate having something later should let her know.

The committee typically meets with all departments and organizations to discuss their capital needs in August and September.

The committee began the meeting with a moment of silence for former member Carolyn Webber, who died earlier this month.