TOWN OF OLD LYME
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
MEETING MINUTES
The Board of Selectmen held a Regular Meeting at 4:00 pm on October 15, 2018 in the Meeting Hall of the Old Lyme Memorial Town Hall. First Selectman Bonnie Reemsnyder, Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal and Selectman Chris Kerr were present.
1 October 2018 -Regular Meeting Minutes
A motion was made by Selectman Kerr, seconded by Selectwoman Nosal, to approve the October 1, 2018 regular meeting minutes. Motion passed.
2. Communication: None
3. Appointments: None
4. Old Business:
First Selectman Reemsnyder reminded the selectmen of their discussion at the last meeting. She invited Heather Gagnon, Chairman of the Economic Development Commission (EDC) along with Howard Margules and Justin Fuller, members of the commission, to join the meeting. Heather gave an overview of the commission and read their mission statement. She then gave an overview of the proposal they have received from the Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC) including; the scope of services, budget (costs), timeline and project team. She then went on to express the amount of good this would do for the town and listed the comm. priorities within the proposal to include surveying existing businesses, conducting a feasibility study and having ongoing ED support. The members of the commission and the BOS went on to discuss studies completed
in similar towns, regional trends, developing a timeline showing their next steps, and on-site support located in the Town Hall. The CERC and EDC will be making a presentation to the BOF tomorrow night at their meeting to request funds for the prioritized items in the budget as this will need to go to a town meeting.
- Hains Park Bathrooms Committee
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported the committee met last week and they discussed utilizing the current footprint or possibly changing the footprint to have the bathrooms facing the lake, so access is not behind the building making it safer. They will be meeting again in a couple of weeks and she will keep the BOS updated.
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported she has not received the finalized lease yet and they were unable to make the Oct. 7th deadline for the ZREC grant. She has spoken with the Town Attorney regarding the comments made at the last Town Meeting and the number of interested companies who have contacted her inquiring about the RFP and they agree they may be criticized as a board if they do not go out to RFP for the project. The next step will be to put together a committee to develop an RFP. She asked the selectmen if they were interested in working on this committee or would like to recommend anyone to let her know.
- Sanitation/Recycling RFP Responses
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported the committee received four responses (bids) for the RFP. They range in price from $520,000 - $824,000 annually. The committee will be reviewing the proposals to ensure they all meet the required criteria and will then review them further for the more detailed aspects. They are hoping to make an award by the beginning of December.
- School Resource Officer for Region 18 – Update
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported she has spoken with the Town Attorney regarding the State Police not approving of an OL Officer serving in the Lyme Consolidated School. The Town Attorney will be reaching out to the Attorney General to see if he can have a conversation regarding their contract with the State Police and what impact that will have.
- Resolution Authorizing Issuance of Bonds/Notes
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported the Town will be funding $1.75 million dollars for the project. Part of the funding will be a loan of $1.25 million and $500,000 from surplus. Both the BOS and the BOF will need to pass resolutions to borrow the money, and a resolution authorizing the borrowing of funds for this purpose will need to be approved at a Town Meeting. First Selectman Reemsnyder read the resolution the BOS will need to approve. She will send this to the selectmen for their review and asked that they let her know if they had any questions or comments. She also noted there is no rush for a Town Meeting.
- Draft MOA with PGN Library
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported there has been some discussion about a Memorandum of Agreement with the library to address the funding of the project. She has reached out to a town with a similar project to get a copy of their MOA and has passed this on to the Town Attorney and had a conversation with him about this suggestion. He agrees it doesn’t hurt to have one. She has also received a copy of a draft MOU from Anna Reiter, who is the Board of Finance member serving on the committee for the building project at the library. This has also been passed on to the Town Attorney. She pointed out exhibit A in the draft she received from the library and noted that on page two the first payment of $373,200 (which will come out of surplus) in March/April. Once she receives a final version from the Town Attorney she will pass it onto the
selectmen.
- Local Bridge Program – Funding Update
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported she has signed and returned the acceptance letter of the $427,400 for the Mile Creek Road Bridge over the Black Hall River grant money.
She also reminded them about the additional grant of $345,000 (est. total bridge cost $691,676) that has been approved by the state for the Grassy Hill Road bridge and their conversation at the last meeting. Since then she has had discussions with the Chairman of the BOF and the engineers working on this and two important things were discussed - the state does not give out a lot of funding and if this is going to need to be done, they should consider it. The engineers believe it was approved because it is functionally obsolete and serves a lot of traffic. She has also found that they can apply for an extension and thinks they should reconsider accepting this grant. She will be discussing both grants with the BOF at their meeting tomorrow night. She also reported the RiverCOG has been conducting traffic counts on both Grassy Hill
Road and Mile Creek Road and she should have numbers by the end of this week.
5. New Business:
- Local Traffic Authority – requests
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported that over the past several months she has received a couple of requests to look at speed limits. The first request is to reduce the 40 MPH speed limit on the Boston Post Road near Coffee’s Market and the Hains Park area. The second request was to reduce the 40 MPH speed limit on the Boston Post Road from Sill Lane to Halls Road. She reached out to Lt. Costa of Troop F, who reviewed the requests and suggested she reach out to Conn DOT (state roads), so they can conduct further studies. The BOS also discussed the possibility of additional electronic signage.
First Selectman Reemsnyder reminded them of a resident who came to speak with them regarding reducing the speed limit on McCurdy Road from 25 MPH down to 20MPH. She noted this is within the BOS authority as Local Traffic Authority if they decide they would like to do this but would need to notify the state of the reduction if approved. The BOS discussed the need to involve the Resident Trooper, increased patrols and developing an enforcement plan.
- Halls Road Committee scheduled cleanup – Halls Road
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported the Halls Road Committee will be holding a clean-up day on Oct. 20th from 8AM – 1PM to clear out the underbrush and clean out the trash on the property that was given to the Town by DEEP (across the Lt. River from Dock 11). They will also try to identify what kinds of trees are there and what the ground is like (dry/wet). Everyone is welcome to join them.
- Eagle Scout Ceremony/Silver & Bronze medal ceremony
First Selectman Reemsnyder reported there will be an Eagle Scout Ceremony held on Nov. 4th at 2PM at the LOL Middle School. Two of the Scouts receiving this honor are; Theodore Whalen whose project was to develop a flag receptacle and Evan St. Lewis who refurbished the Bocce Courts at the Senior Center. She also noted the Town will be providing Proclamations for both scouts.
First Selectman Reemsnyder added the Girl Scouts Bronze/Silver Award Ceremony will be held on Oct. 21st at 2:00 PM at Town Hall
6. Public Comment: None
7. Other Business: None
8. Executive Session: None
9. Adjournment:
A motion was made by Selectwoman Nosal, seconded by Selectman Kerr, to adjourn at 5:45 pm. Motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Patti Broedlin
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