Petitioner Disappointed in Rec. Field 'No' Vote

While he is disappointed with the result, Dennis Senibaldi is already looking forward following a decision by the Windham voters to nix a petition that he proposed asking for $250,000 toward a recreational field at Spruce Pond.

"It was a tough decision for me to make to put it on the ballot," Senibaldi said. "I'm sure it weighed on people's minds when they went to the voting booths.

Senibaldi, who currently serves as chairman of the Town Recreation Committee, was proposing a petition for the first time as a resident. 

The petition failed by a large margin, receiving 738 'yes' votes and 2,077 'no' votes.

But Senibaldi said that he is definitely going to push to get the field on the Capital Improvement Plan and added that he hopes it can get back to the voters on the 2013 ballot.

He added that he will possibly look for a grant this year to help fund some of the project.

Senibaldi wasn't bitter about the decision, recognizing that several money articles didn't pass this year, including several on the school ballot.

"All the school money has been voted down, (and) even on the town side the loader got voted down," he said.

He went on to say that the the message from voters was clear: "enough is enough" with the spending.

"Not forever, but right now (voters are saying) enough is enough," Senibaldi said.

Senibaldi spoke about the impact that will be felt by residents once the season starts kicking up for some of the youth sports organizations.

"Soccer and lacrosse have done great working together, (but) now we add football to the mix – it's going to be difficult," Senibaldi said.

The Recreation Committee fully endorsed the petition in the weeks leading up to the March 13 election. Senibaldi said that the warrant article wasn't just a "let me throw it out there and see what happens" type of situation.

He said that he talked to all of the youth sports teams, and the Windham Soccer Association even sent out an email blast.

Senibaldi said that his experience with recreation for the past 10 or 11 years has helped him know what the town needs for space. 

He also was involved in field work six years ago on Tokanal Field.

For now, the project sits half constructed. As the petition was written, $260,000 worth of material and construction donations have already gone into the field.