Though Windham selectmen have asked Alfred Turner to stay on as interim head of a restructured Planning Department, the department head’s future remains in doubt after the board eliminated his position.

With a unanimous vote on Monday, Dec. 8, to adopt a job description for the newly created position of community development director, which would emphasize responsibility over the long-term economic development of the town, the board hopes to invigorate commercial growth in Windham. The move also replaces the position Turner has held for the last 12 years as the town’s director of planning and development.

“Windham is facing new challenges because of the new high school that we have committed to build and open,” said Selectman Charles McMahon. “And as a result, we have a substantial tax burden, and we need to change the past attitude and anti-business attitude that Windham has exhibited in going forward and broaden our tax base. We have a 3 percent commercial tax base. It’s wrong to look at homeowners to pay the burden of the substantial increase in a tax bill to support the high school on their own.”

McMahon said the tax burden associated with the construction of the new high school served as a catalyst to look at bringing more commercial development to town just as the projects to widen Route 111 and Interstate 93 – expected to bring more traffic to the town — are under way.

Selectmen began considering making a change after an independent review conducted earlier this year concluded that the planning department was out of sync with the board’s goals for the economic development of the town.

Turner said he was waiting to see what selectmen were looking for from his department.

“I know they want to emphasize economic development in town and, of course you couldn’t pick a worse time, but in my 12 years, what I’ve done here is $62 million of economic development of new or renovated businesses. That’s $5 million a year,” Turner said. “I don’t know how much more they want than that.”

According to Town Administrator David Sullivan, the newly restructured department would likely oversee the town planning and zoning boards with the community development director focusing more on economic growth by bringing in new businesses.

With a job description for the position decided upon, selectmen will now turn to focus on what the newly restructured department will look like in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Sullivan indicated that Turner will stay on as the interim head of the department for the next six months.

Despite the attempt to refocus on economic development, Turner said whoever held that position would face opposition from residents who had consistently voted against bringing business to Windham.

“The voters have turned down Lowe’s coming in here twice, and the voters have turned down the rezoning of major residential land into commercial land, the same piece of land twice,” Turner said. “I don’t know that if you don’t have the land zoned for business how a person could come in here.”

While selectmen have indicated that Turner could apply for the position of community development director and have also offered him the job of town planner – allowing him to maintain a spot within the restructured department – Turner has said that he will continue to assess his options.

“I’d have to evaluate my situation,” he said.