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Windham group will delay wind vote tally for second home owners
Credit: By Howard Weiss-Tisman | Vermont Public Radio | September 16, 2016 | vpr.net ~~
A group opposing a wind project in Windham will delay an informal referendum on a commercial wind project until after the official vote is held on Election Day.
The Spanish energy company, Iberdrola Renewables, wants to build 20 commercial wind turbines in Windham, and the company says it will honor the results of an Election Day vote on the project.
But The Friends of Windham is asking second home owners to weigh in on a proposed commercial wind project.
Iberdrola refused to include second home owners in the vote so The Friends of Windham organized an informal referendum and sent out questionnaires to all of the second home owners in town.
The group was going to tally the results in early October, but an Iberdrola spokesman told VPR the company had concerns that the results could influence the official vote.
This week The Friends of Windham said they would delay counting the questionnaires.
“We refuse to allow Iberdrola to use our fair and objective balloting process as an excuse to go back on their long-stated promise to honor a November 8 vote by Windham’s registered voters,” said Roy Giarrusso, who owns a second home in Windham.
“Non-resident property owners pay 60% of Windham municipal tax and deserve to be heard, but we won’t allow Iberdrola to flip our sincere effort on its head, and use it as a weapon against resident voters.”
Ballots have been sent to all non-resident property owners on the Town of Windham grand list. Voters will mail the sealed ballots to Friends of Windham. These ballots will be held by a disinterested legal firm before being opened, the group says.
The group says it will count the non-resident referendum questionnaires on Nov. 9, the day after the votes of residents are counted.
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