OLD LYME–In a rematch of the election that put Democrat Martha Shoemaker in the town’s top spot two years ago, this year’s Board of Selectmen race promises lively discussions about successes, failures and each candidate’s vision for the future.
The candidates responded with a 350-word limit to four questions that we posed. We thank them for responding in a timely fashion and adhering to our rules.
Click on each name below to learn more about them in their own words.
Why are you running for the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen, and what do you see as the most important challenges facing the town in the next two years?
The pace and scale of development on Old Lyme has been a key issue in town, from the prospect of apartments on Halls Road to the implications that sewers might have for the shoreline gateway. How would you describe Old Lyme as it is today, and what is your vision for the town’s future?
How important are shoreline environmental issues—such as flooding, beach erosion, water quality, and climate change—to Old Lyme’s long-term vitality, and what steps would you take to address them?
What would you do to ensure that rising property taxes don’t make Old Lyme unaffordable for residents?
In Old Lyme, all Board of Selectmen seats are up for election every two years. Voters will be asked to vote for one candidate for first selectman and one candidate for selectman. The winner of the first selectman contest wins the title, with the next two highest vote-getters securing spots as selectmen. State law specifies no more than two members of the Board of Selectmen can be from the same party.
Absentee ballots for the Nov. 4 election are available now. Early voting begins Oct. 20.
In keeping with our long-held tradition, we will not be making candidate endorsements.
First selectman candidate Tom St. Louis (right) speaks at the Lyme Republicans’ candidate forum on Saturday. He is flanked by moderator Don Gerber, who is also the town engineer, and running mate Mary Powell-St. Louis.
LYME–At a Republican-sponsored candidates’ forum held Saturday with no representation from Democrat-endorsed contenders, it was left to husband-and-wife running mates Tom St. Louis and Mary Powell-St. Louis to spar among themselves.
The Democrats, under whose banner unaffiliated first selectwoman Christy Zelek is running, declined to participate in the forum. Instead, they opted to knock on doors so they could speak one-on-one with voters.
St. Louis, the Republican first selectman candidate, and Powell-St. Louis, who is running for selectwoman, headlined the forum billed by moderator Don Gerber as a “cordial event.” Gerber said there was no reason for people to be upset with each other.
“I’ll be quick to shut it down if I see that coming,” he said.
Gerber’s only opportunity to put his policy into action was decisive. It came in response to one of the roughly 30 people in the room, who asked St. Louis what he thought about his opponent’s ability to manage a budget.
“I think that it’s more appropriate to have that question answered by the candidates, who are not here, rather than for us to speak for the candidates that are running against them,” Gerber said. “So I would pass on that question.”
St. Louis thanked the resident for asking. “We really hoped to have an ongoing dialogue so that we can have that discussion,” he said.
Gerber called for the next question.
Hydrilla Hypotheses
St. Louis and Powell-St. Louis during most of the roughly 75-minute forum agreed on key issues, including the need to keep taxes low and to assert local control over zoning decisions. But one area of disagreement involved the hydrilla scourge overtaking the Connecticut River and tributaries, including Hamburg Cove and Selden Cove in Lyme.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state and regional partners are involved in a years-long project to investigate the safest, least toxic way to stem the hydrilla infestation. But the project has taken flak from critics opposed to use of the herbicide diquat in some of the test cases.
St. Louis has spent 37 years as an engineer at Pfizer, while Powell-St. Louis’ career as a physician includes roles in private practice and the pharmaceutical industry.
St. Louis said he’s comfortable with the idea of treating hydrilla with herbicides.
“I would never want to just wantonly treat a natural environment with a chemical,” he said. “But I look at this situation and say that ‘do nothing’ is not an option. We know what ‘do nothing’ entails. It means losing the cove.”
He said studies show there are no unreasonable adverse effects to human health or the environment.
Powell-St. Louis took the microphone to disagree.
“So we have a different set of opinions here, even in the same household,” she said.
She called on her background in medicine and public health, as well as her attendance at two presentations on the federal hydrilla project, to back up her skepticism.
“They’re either not revealing all the data, or the data isn’t there,” she said.
Financial Acumen
Asked by audience members for more areas of dispute between the couple, Powell-St. Louis said she’s the one with more opinions on the school district where she was elected for two terms to the school board, and where the couple sent their three sons from kindergarten through grade 12.
“I think that I probably have more knowledge and expertise, and maybe more opinions, about what has gone on within the school district,” she said.
Her husband countered that he’d likely be the one to try to “dive more fully” into Board of Finance issues, especially ensuring healthy contingency funds.
But Powell-St. Louis countered that previous experience on the school board and her current role on the building committee for a $57.5 million Lyme-Old Lyme Schools renovation project gave her plenty of insight into the issue of spending and saving.
She referenced advocacy during the spring budget planning process for the reinstatement of a music teaching position that had been stripped from a draft spending plan. Her recommendation at the time was to use a portion of the district’s reserve funds to dampen the impact of debt service on the budget in the coming years.
While the school board found savings elsewhere rather than acting on her suggestion at the time, she said the topic of how much to save was an extensive conversation at this week’s school board meeting. That’s when members decided to return more than half a million dollars of the district’s surplus to Lyme and Old Lyme to blunt the impact of future tax increases.
Powell-St. Louis credited her advocacy with keeping discussion about the reserve fund front and center.
She said while St. Louis is talking about diving into conversations about finances, she’s already orchestrated those conversations.
“Not you. I did it,” she told her husband to laughs from the crowd. “OK, so give credit where credit is due, please.”
St. Louis got more laughs when he asked “Are you done yet?”
The back-and-forth came amid criticism from the Democrats for running a married couple at the top of the Republican slate.
A post from the Lyme Democratic Town Committee on social media shows Lyme’s sample election ballot with “husband” and “wife” stickers pointing to the couple’s names.
“If this Republican husband-and-wife team is elected, the control of the Town of Lyme’s Board of Selectmen will be in the hands of one family,” the message said.
Powell-St. Louis on Saturday was adamant that the three-member Board of Selectmen is inevitably composed of three independent people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise.
“And so I have my own opinions,” she said. “I am capable of making decisions on my own independently, and I will do so, plain and simple.”
United on Housing
St. Louis and Powell-St. Louis on Saturday remained unified in their fears about the threat to local autonomy presented by looming state mandates requiring all cities and towns to take up some of the responsibility of creating new affordable housing opportunities.
St. Louis, a current member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, framed the issue as an example of government overreach that inspired him to run for first selectman.
A comprehensive affordable housing bill was vetoed by Gov. Ned Lamont during this year’s legislative session in Hartford. He promised a special session to revisit the issue.
The need for affordable places for people to live has emerged as a priority in the state as demand continues to outstrip supply. The National Low Income Coalition in its 2025 housing profile for Connecticut estimated there are 94,000 more low-income households than there are places for them to live affordably.
A home is considered affordable when the people living there don’t spend more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage payments.
Among the provisions in the failed bill was the “Fair Share” framework, which would have required municipalities to plan for a prescribed number of affordable housing units within their borders.
St. Louis said such mandates override local zoning controls that limit residential growth to one, two or three acre lots.
“We should own our zoning code,” he said. “And so to that end, I’m going to be an advocate for the town. I’ll work with town principals. I’ll work outside the town with state representatives, representatives from other towns to make sure the governor gets the message that we want to own our land use decisions.”
He said the number of affordable housing units estimated as Lyme’s “fair share” in the failed bill ignored limitations including a lack of public water, sewers and transportation.
Powell-St. Louis stepped in with the numbers.
“So in that House Bill 5002, the recommended target number for what was called ‘fair share’ housing for Lyme was 176 affordable housing units,” she said. “176.”
“Right,” he said. “Versus the total housing units we have in town: less than 1,200.”
The forum included brief remarks from school board candidate Lannie Mossberg and alternate Zoning Commission candidate Steven Deveaux.
Absentee ballots for the Nov. 4 election are available now. Early voting begins Oct. 20.
LYME–On Saturday, Oct. 4, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., the Republican Town Committee (RTC) will host an Open Candidate Forum at the Lyme Public Library while the Democratic Town Committee knocks on doors.
Republican Town Committee member and First Selectman candidate Tom St. Louis in a Monday email said the candidate forum is open “to any and all municipal candidates and Lyme voters.”
The Republicans said Town Engineer Don Gerber will moderate the forum.
The race for first selectman, which is contested for the first time since 2017, pits St. Louis against Democratic Town Committee-endorsed unaffiliated candidate Christy Zelek.
Selectmen candidates are Republican Mary Powell-St. Louis, who is Tom St. Louis’ wife, and incumbent Democrats John Kiker and Kristina White. White is running as a petitioning candidate with the Democratic endorsement.
The Democrats and Democrat-endorsed candidates running for the Board of Selectmen will not be participating in the Republicans’ forum, according to a letter from Kiker to forum organizer Stephen Buccheri. Kiker also serves as the DTC chairman.
Kiker said they’ll be knocking on doors instead.
“This way of reaching out to and connecting personally with Lyme residents is important to our candidates and, based on the responses we’ve been receiving, it’s meaningful to voters as well,” he said. “So we are declining your invitation and will continue to focus on creating more opportunities to have these rich, one-on-one conversations with constituents.”
The DTC took to social media on Tuesday to inform voters they’ll be making house visits on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“Ask questions. Get answers. Meet the candidates. Talk one-on-one about the issues that matter to you,” the message reads.
The proposed format for the Republican forum includes drawing straws to determine response order, followed by a 3-4 minute introductory statement from each candidate. Questions from the audience will be addressed to an individual or panel response as warranted.
St. Louis in his email to LymeLine said it is unfortunate that the opposing candidates would not participate in an “open public forum,” which he described as much different than one-on-one door knocking.
“Town leaders must be able to make decisions and respond to critical situations…and to stand before their constituents to bear responsibility for actions taken and outcomes realized.”
Two years is a brief time for any town leader to accomplish ambitious goals, yet First Selectman Martha Shoemaker and Selectman Jim Lampos have made noteworthy progress in their first term. Their achievements include enabling online meeting access, addressing deferred maintenance, tackling flood and erosion issues, repairing the Hawk’s Nest sluice gate, using grants for our emergency operations center, supporting Senior Center renovations, and improving accessibility and safety at Sound View.
Martha and Jim put Old Lyme first—let’s re-elect them on Nov. 4.
Sincerely,
Mary Jo Nosal, Old Lyme.
Editor’s Notes: Mary Jo Nosal is a member of the Old Lyme Democratic Town Committee. She is also a financial supporter of olwenonline.com/, but has no input to the editorial process, which remains completely independent.
It was disappointing to see Tom St. Louis resort to mischaracterizing recent events and conversations about the approach our Democratic Town Committee (DTC) is taking to connect voters with our candidates in advance of the upcoming election. His letter seemed intent on instilling drama and creating controversy where there is none.
That’s not how we operate. The Lyme DTC is going to continue our efforts to meet with voters individually and in small groups to present our team of Democratic and Unaffiliated candidates to them, and facilitate productive conversations between our candidates and constituents that give us the opportunity to both listen and learn. Lyme is a small enough town where we can make those kinds of connections happen.
In the world we live in now, we have all repeatedly witnessed that debates and forums too often result in generating public conflict between candidates and political parties, rather than forging personal conversations between candidates and voters. These are not “unfounded” concerns, as characterized in Tom’s letter.
We believe voters should have an opportunity to speak personally with our candidates and express their ideas and concerns, and that our candidates have an obligation to listen and act on those concerns once in office.
Our experience in the last municipal election demonstrated that we can connect powerfully with constituents when we meet with them for candid, one-on-one conversations about our town’s future … listening, answering questions, asking questions, understanding their concerns, and discussing what they want from town government. This approach results in rich, personal conversations that give us the opportunity to listen to and understand the issues that are important to voters as individuals and families.
After engaging personally with constituents like this in the 2023 election, Lyme voters turned out in force at the polls. We believe this type of personalized voter engagement is the foundation of our democratic electoral process.
Our goal is to knock on as many doors and meet with as many residents as possible between now and November 4. The goal of his letter, however, appears to be to instill a spirit of divisiveness into the campaign, which is something we have all seen take place with increasing frequency in other communities across the country. We think Lyme deserves more than that. We think Lyme deserves better than that.
It’s unfortunate that Tom and his wife Mary, who are running for First Selectman and Selectman respectively, have chosen to pull our community in that direction and it’s a decision we hope they will reconsider. We’ve had voters from both parties tell us they are uncomfortable with the idea of community divisiveness in Lyme and with the possibility of a husband-and-wife team making decisions for the entire town.
We’re not interested in fostering divisiveness. We’re interested in fostering community.
We’re not interested in confrontations between candidates. We’re interested in conversations with voters.
Lyme has always been a place where people of all political affiliations can work together on our boards and commissions in the best interests of our town. That’s certainly been true for the eight years I’ve served on the Board of Selectmen – and it’s a tradition that goes back much farther than that. It’s a tradition I hope we can continue.
To the voters of Lyme, our candidate team – which includes Christy Zelek, Kristina White, myself and others – look forward to seeing you in person for an open and insightful dialogue, and to seeing you again at the polls.
Early voting starts October 20; Election Day is November 4.
Sincerely,
John Kiker
Editor’s Note: i) The author is the chairman of the Lyme Democratic Town Committee and a candidate for selectman. ii) Here is a reminder of our Policy on Letters to the Editor and our Policy on Comments.
