Board of Selectmen Regular Meeting Minutes 17 August 2015
TOWN OF OLD LYME
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2015
The Board of Selectmen held a Regular Meeting at 7:30 pm on August 17th, 2015 in the Meeting Hall of the Old Lyme Memorial Town Hall. First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal and Selectman Skip Sibley were present.
- Approval of Minutes: August 3rd, 2015; Regular Meeting
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder requested the following addition to the minutes of August 3rd, 2015 under 4. Old Business: First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder reminded the Selectmen that we committed to present public info presentation for public to see new plans.
Selectman Sibley requested the following edits to the minutes of August 3, 2015 under 7. Other Business: Paragraph 3 remove 1st 2 sentences, and add Selectman Sibley spoke to the vote taken at the July 20, 2015 regular Board of Selectmen meeting regarding White Sands’ request for town funding of a road repair. He noted previous discussions took place at the regular Board of Selectmen’s meeting of May 18, 2015. The action item from the May meeting was to have discussions with the Board of Finance, since this request was not supported by the current budget. Selectman Sibley noted that no discussion took place at the regular Board of Finance meeting of June 16, 2015. Selectman Sibley also noted at the
Board of Finance regular meeting of July 21, 2015, their initial reaction to the request was not favorable and no action was taken at that meeting. They will follow-up on this at their August meeting.
A motion was made by Selectwoman Nosal, seconded by Selectman Sibley to approve the minutes as amended. Motion passed.
- Communication: None
- Appointments:
A motion was made by Selectman Sibley, seconded by Selectwoman Nosal, to appoint Sal
Cancelliere to a 4 year term as an alternate on the WPCA to expire Jan 2017. Motion passed.
A motion was made by Selectman Sibley, seconded by First Selectwoman Reemsnyder, to appoint Steve Cinami to a 4 year term as an alternate on the WPCA to expire Jan 2016. Selectwoman Nosal opposed. Motion passed.
WPCA chair was in favor of both appointments.
- Boathouse Hains Park Improvements Update
Selectman Sibley reported on the meeting of the BHPIC that took place Thursday August 13th, 2015. He summarized that 2 designs have been developed. The plan was to have cost estimates on those designs and the cost estimates were done.
The 1st design has a changing room/locker room and includes a flex space. This design did need a code modification, which the town obtained, allowing for no bathrooms, due to close proximity to the bathhouse.
The 2nd design did not include the changing room/locker room, or flex space. Also, the bays in this design are 16′, 28′, and 16′, which does not accomplish the goal of having 3 consistent bays of 22′ wide each, that the original committee found very important. Neither design included bathrooms.
The committee wanted to understand what the bathhouse would cost with design and upgrades, because if they go with the 2nd option that doesn’t include the lockers, changing rooms, and flex space, they may want to incorporate that into the bathhouse. The committee voted to get in touch with the architect to come up with a sketch of the bathhouse with these options, in order to get an estimate for the cost of this upgraded bathhouse.
Selectman Sibley states that the committee has decided to do a more meaningful upgrade to the bathhouse, and scrap the idea of having bathrooms in the boathouse. Land use agencies needs to be re-contacted for approvals. He anticipates a two part project with the STEAP funded Boathouse component to be completed fist, and a second, Town-funded phase including a bath house upgrade, and basketball courts.
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder noted that the Boathouse is subject to prevailing wage because we are using state money to fund it. The estimate that was received for the 1st design was approximately $600,000, with additional costs for the basketball court and driveway. She believes, however, that some of these costs can be cut through value engineering. The 2nd design was approximately $480,000.
Selectman Sibley replied that if you add in the lockers, changing rooms, and flex space into the bathhouse, the difference between the two designs would be about $15,000 (according to the chair). He continued, that the plan is to go back to the architect to eliminate some enhancements, and work that number down, and also, to understand the cost of the upgraded bathhouse.
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder brought up the urgency to start building at the end of this fall crew season, and stated that we may need a special meeting to keep this moving forward.
- Rte. 156 Bikeway/Sound View Improvements
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder stated that there are no new updates, that there has not been another meeting, since the last BOS meeting. She summarizes that they sent in a letter to Mr Hayward of the DOT saying the board has voted to proceed to final design with the Sound View Plan, in phase 1 Hartford Avenue. They have also finalized the document that encompasses the public comments and responses.
- WPCA/Administrative Order Update
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder stated that there was a deadline to submit the Environmental Impact Evaluation to the DEEP, and it was clear that they weren’t going to be able to make this deadline, so she sent a letter to the commissioner of DEEP requesting an extension. She notes that she met with the BOS and BOF attorney to review this.
Selectman Sibley talked about Dimitri Tolchinski’s suggestion that the additional invoice that Woodard and Curran charged should have fallen under the original contract that was in place, and there for we shouldn’t be getting additional bills.
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder commented that she invited Dimitri Tolchinski to meet with herself and Jay Sheehan, the project manager of Woodard & Curran, to articulate his concerns. She states that Mr. Sheehan was agreeable that there should be no further bills, with some possible exceptions. She also stated that he was working on putting that in writing. She is under the impression that they are agreeable to moving forward to the next step of getting the responses from the comments the DEEP made, and the EIE at no extra charge, BUT, she would like to see it in writing. Woodard and Curran do want to continue working on this project.
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder stated that the BOS need to make the decision whether or not to approve the Emme System proposal. She summarized the proposal, stating that if you arrived early at the meeting it was a little warm, and now 20 minutes later, it was getting quite chilly. The town hall has had ongoing issues with the heating and cooling of the building. The Emme System is a system of sensors & electronics that tell bladders when to inflate/deflate in the ductwork, based on the temperature in the room. With this system, it should keep each room within 2 degrees of the set temperature. The cost is between $55,000 and $60,000 to install, including $4000 for boiler work. She stated that she has followed up with references,
and all appear happy with the system. She explained that the BOS needs to vote on this because at the budget meeting in May they voted on establishing a Town Buildings Improvement Fund, and the excess money from Town Hall Expansion was deposited into that fund, approximately $170,000. This fund was set up in a manner that anything done with this money needs to be approved by the BOS, and also the BOF. She stated that she believes there will be a cost savings on heating oil and electricity.
Selectwoman Nosal made a motion that the BOS recommend to the BOF, that they tap the funds from the Town Buildings Improvement Fund for the Emme System not to exceed $60,000. Seconded by Selectman Sibley. Motion Passed.
- Septage Transfer Facility Agreement
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder shared updates on the Septage Transfer Facility. She stated Old Lyme currently has the permit for the septage transfer facility off of Machnik Rd, where Shoreline Sanitation has their setup. Gary Yuknat runs the facility for us, where venders who pump out septic tanks can bring their load and offload it there. Over 20 years the town has subsidized this by paying 4.5cents more per gallon than the venders are paying. Venders pay 8 cents per gallon to dump their load, and the town is then billed 12 cents a gallon by the operator. We want to stop that process, and not pay that extra amount. The contract expires December 2015. If they continue to offload at that facility, if it continues to be run by
another entity, they would just pay them directly. The town, however, still wants to get the data from the venders that do the pump outs in town. In order to do this, the town needs to amend the WPCA ordinance to say that venders are required to submit the report to the health department. We would like the WPCA and Selectmen to approve this, and then it has to be included in a town meeting.
Selectman Sibley asks if the town wants to continue being the permittee, or if they want to transfer that to Wind River?
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder responds that, Wind River has expressed interest in taking over the permitting operation. The goal is to have this happen by the end of year.
- $1.6M Grant Award for Dredging of Black Hall and Four Mile Rivers
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder excitedly announced a grant received for dredging Black Hall and Four Mile Rivers. Harbor Management had been working on a study, which they originally had a grant for $200,000, to determine if it was feasible to dredge these 2 rivers. They went out to bid a little over a month ago, and put in an application for a grant to the state of CT, and the town just received notification that it was approved for $1,614,074. Usually there is an 80/20 split for these grants, but the 20% was waived, so the grant will cover 100% of the project. First Selectwoman Reemsnyder wanted to get this on the BOF agenda, so they can recommend it to a town meeting, to approve the spending of the grant. She offered congratulations to
Harbor Management Commission, in particular Ned Farman, Vice Chair, and congratulations to the town.
Selectwoman Nosal stated that the project should be finished before April 2016, and that the money is a lump sum payment.
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder commented that this is a short term grant, and the project has to be done by June 30th, 2016.
Selectman Sibley also wanted to give kudos Coastal Management for their help.
- Joint Land Use Study Public Workshop
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder spoke about a grant received from the Federal Government, to do a study in regards to Stone’s Ranch & Camp Niantic. It is a multi-community effort encompassing East Lyme, Old Lyme, and Lyme, to look at ways to use the land that borders the military facility. There is a public meeting that will take place September 14, 2015, 6-8pm at Camp Niantic. The boards & commissions have all received information about the study, and information will be posted around town.
- Accident Saturday August 15, 2015
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder acknowledged excellent work from all of the 1st responders: fire department, ambulance and police, and noted a good flow of traffic being redirected through town.
Dimitri Tolchinski, member of the WPCA, distributed a letter expressing his discontent with the decision to stop moving forward with Woodard & Curran, the engineers who performed the Clean Water wastewater management study. He stated that the town of Old Lyme should have never paid Woodard & Curran the full project cost before their work was done. On top of what was paid out, Woodard & Curran later submitted bills for $148,000, which was rejected at the town’s meeting last May. Dimitri Tolchinski was invited by First Selectwoman Reemsnyder to attend a meeting with vice-president of Woodard & Curran, Jay Sheehan. During that meeting Mr. Tolchinski questioned the additional charges, and was told that they put in more hours than
anticipated, and should be paid for those hours. Mr. Tolchinski told him that they signed the contract to do as a “job price” not a “per hour price”, that the contract price was approved by the people, and there is no way for them to charge more than the Town Meeting has approved. He also stated that the Town will not approve any more bills, and advised him to withdraw their outstanding bills, and finish their work on the study with no additional charge to the town. Mr. Tolchinski stated that Mr. Sheehan agreed, and they shook hands. Mr Tolchinski suggests that the WPCA should review such contracts in the future to avoid a contractor attempting to overcharge.
Doug Whalen, 41 Old Colony Rd., Chairman Old Colony Beach Association, stated that bi-weekly recycling pickup is not enough, and suggested weekly trash and recycling pickup. Also, regarding the wastewater management study, he suggested that the town of Old Lyme uses Woodard and Curran for the study only, and that they use a different engineering firm for the actual design of the sewer system.
Selectman Sibley stated that a few meetings back, the BOS voted to approve an email retention policy. He stated a need to do some educating & training on what this means. At a previous meeting, he had suggested that the chairs to the committee’s should have a town domain email. He has since found out that the cost was reasonable for up to 30 email addresses. Selectman Sibley asked First Selectwoman Reemsnyder to discuss this with the BOF.
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder responded that there is an IT group they currently work with, and she will address this issue, and get information out about this policy. She also stated that there has to be training to use them, and confidence that they will check them regularly.
Selectman Sibley urges that if people are using their personal emails, they are running a risk of those emails being requested, if there was ever a situation where records were being subpoenaed. He asks for this to be an action item for training & education.
Selectman Sibley also asks about landfill reimbursement with the state?
First Selectwoman Reemsnyder responded that every month there is a bond commission meeting, every month it has been canceled. Only meeting they have had was in July when they approved the $1.6 million grant. Our landfill application was not put on that meeting, and we are currently waiting.
Selectwoman Nosal stated that First Selectwoman Reemsnyder received response on the State Police contract, and thanked First Selectwoman Reemsnyder for forwarding the questions to the advocacy manager at CCM, stated that it was comforting that they received related comments, and are trying to work through some of the issues.
Selectwoman Nosal thanked the Public Works Department for cleaning up the weeds growing in the streets by Soundview in a very timely fashion.
Selectwoman Nosal also was glad to see that Old Lyme is hosting a drug takeback day at the Old Lyme Firehouse on Saturday September 26th from 10am – 2pm.
- Executive Session: None
- Adjournment: A motion was made by First Selectwoman Reemsnyder, seconded by Selectman Sibley to adjourn at 9:00 pm.
Donna Glaras
8/18/2015
| 
