OLD LYME–In a rematch for the town’s top spot, this year’s election pits Democratic incumbent First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker’s record of flooding fixes and open budgeting against Republican John Mesham’s calls for “common sense” improvements that don’t alter Old Lyme’s small-town identity. 

Shoemaker is running on the Democratic ticket with incumbent Selectman Jim Lampos. Mesham is once again teamed up with Jude Read, the incumbent Republican selectwoman. 

Shoemaker declared victory last time around with 51.8% majority. She brought in 1,820 votes compared to Mesham’s 1,697. 

The first selectwoman last week at the Town Hall said she’s been accessible to residents and has worked to keep them informed through public meetings and email communications. 

“I’d just really like to continue to serve the people for another two years,” she said. 

From the Republican headquarters on Halls Road — a flashpoint in this year’s election — Mesham said his campaign is driven by opposition to a now-defeated proposal that would have allowed hundreds of apartments or more in the commercial zone.

“I hear from a lot of people that they’re just kind of ready for a change,” Mesham said. 

More information on the effect of the Halls Road controversy on this year’s first selectman’s race is available here. 

Flood Control and Open Books

Shoemaker, a retired 35-year teacher and 12-year union president, was selectwoman from 2021-23 before being elected first selectwoman. She is not running again for the regional school board, where she is finishing her second term. 

Shoemaker cited solutions to multiple flood-related concerns as key accomplishments over the past two years. She said she held up a 2023 campaign promise to address flooding on Cross Lane at the Amtrak bridge underpass, where numerous closures that summer affected the ability of first responders to get to Route 156 from the Cross Lane fire station. 

Town crews brought in a vacuum excavation contractor to clean out the storm drains and underground drainage lines to restore proper flow into Swan Brook, according to the first selectwoman. 

“Within two days we corrected a problem that had existed for years and we’ve only had one flooding situation since then,” she said. 

The town also engineered an improved drainage structure at Hawk’s Nest Beach that had been costing the town time and money for years as sand continually clogged the pipes. Voters at a town meeting last year approved the $144,500 project to rebuild the sluiceway. 

She acknowledged the structure still floods at extremely high tides, but said the problem is now short-lived instead of perpetual. 

She counted resurrecting the Flood and Erosion Control Board as another significant step. She said members are working to become part of FEMA’s Community Rating System, which can qualify residents for a discount on their flood insurance premiums in towns that prove they are taking steps to manage their flood risk. The board had been dormant since 2019 before meetings resumed early last year. 

Transparency in the budget process is also a hallmark of her administration, she said. The Board of Selectmen now discusses budget planning with department heads in public meetings rather than having the finance director and first selectman draft the preliminary town budget without the opportunity for public scrutiny and input. 

She was proud of working with department heads, at the Board of Finance’s request, to find an additional savings of $171,350 during this year’s budget planning process. 

“Everybody was willing to find – whether it was $50,000 or $2,000 – something that we could eliminate that wouldn’t affect our services but would certainly help the budget. And that’s teamwork,” she said. 

She cited the creation of the Road and Public Safety Committee to address speeding and other traffic-related concerns as another accomplishment. She keeps residents up to date on those and other issues in a weekly newsletter that goes out to about 500 subscribers and is posted on social media. 

She said coming up with a plan for sidewalks on Halls Road will be a priority in the coming term. She also cited the need to look at the idea of dredging the Hain’s Park section of Rogers Lake that has deteriorated since her grown sons used to play there as children. 

“It definitely wasn’t as shallow as it is now, but it was a great place to go in the afternoon after naps to just sort of hang out for an hour and a half and splash around,” she said. “So hopefully we can bring that back without causing too many environmental issues.” 

Slow Growth, Transparency and Public Access

Mesham, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, retired from the Connecticut State Police in 2020 as a master sergeant after 29 years in law enforcement. He is a member of the Inland Wetlands Commission and a deputy registrar of voters. 

“I’m running because I’ve really been in public service my whole life, and this is an extension of that,” he said. “But specifically, I wasn’t happy, like a lot of people, with the direction of Old Lyme seems to be going, especially with overdevelopment.” 

Mesham also called out Shoemaker’s administration for making what he’s called a “closed door agreement” in a years-long dispute involving a spit of land bisecting a Tantummaheag Road property that has been used by generations as a public landing on Lord Cove. 

A draft agreement struck by Lampos, as selectman, and George Frampton, the owner of the surrounding property, would have allowed people to use the road on foot from 8 a.m. to sunset while limiting cars to the paved cul-de-sac at the entrance to the landing. 

“We’ve had access to that property for hundreds of years, and I don’t really see a reason to try to make a deal,” Mesham said. 

The town going back to previous Republican Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold’s tenure has claimed ownership of the landing amid opposition from Frampton, a prominent litigator and government official with more than a half century of experience, who has signaled his intent to take the case to federal court. 

Ultimately, the draft agreement failed when Read and Shoemaker voted against it, leaving Lampos as the only supporter. Executive sessions to discuss the potential lawsuit have continued.

Shoemaker refuted Mesham’s description of the draft as a closed-door agreement.

“That is a lie,” she said. “It wasn’t a backroom land deal.”

She said the draft agreement with Frampton was created through a transparent process, with all three selectmen regularly briefed in executive sessions. Once attorneys finalized a draft, Lampos shared it with the Harbor Management Commission, neighborhood representatives, and the public before selectmen voted it down.

Mesham said he has made open government as a central campaign tenet.

“Town Hall needs to definitely be transparent. I think there’s been less than transparent things going on, especially with Freedom of Information,” he said. He cited a state Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) fine lodged this summer against Shoemaker as an example. 

Shoemaker continues to take responsibility for the $250 fine after FOIC members agreed with a complaint from the Connecticut Examiner that she withheld public records related to alleged misconduct at the local ambulance association. 

She said she acted in good faith when she provided all relevant information to state police within 36 hours, and went above what was required when she provided membership rosters maintained by the independent fire and ambulance companies.

She said she did not initially disclose March incident reports, which ended up at the center of the FOIC case, because she forgot about them while compiling numerous information requests in June. 

She acknowledged making a mistake in not providing the information. 

“As far as the FOIA is concerned, we’ve changed the process here,” she said. 

Mesham, citing his experience handling public information requests as a state police sergeant and master sergeant, described himself as “dismayed as to why it was such an issue to get information out about a very public concern.” 

The Sewer Question

The highest profile issue left to be resolved in the coming months revolves around a years-long effort to bring sewers to several beach communities in response to demands from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 

Shoemaker earlier this month told selectmen that state elections timelines and scheduling for the registrars of voters will require pushing the public Sound View Beach portion of the sewer project to at least January. Separate parts of the total $70 million project involve three private beach associations. 

She said the town is close to reaching a cost sharing agreement with the private beach associations and has a better idea how much individual Sound View users, who will be funding the town’s share, will have to spend over the 20-year life of the project loan. 

Shoemaker in her election interview said approving a referendum date requires approval from selectmen and then the Board of Finance. 

“Now we have to analyze it and say, ‘is this affordable for people?’” she said. “That’s something that all three of us have to decide: Jim (Lampos), Jude (Read), and I. It’s not just me.” 

Meanwhile, the state has warned delays could cost millions in promised federal funding and a forgivable loan. 

Mesham said it’s time to have the referendum “and let the town decide.” 

“If it’s a no vote, then we need to show that we’re taking steps to address the issue. And that would be a sewer avoidance program, at least in part,” he said. 

He said the state’s pressure for Old Lyme to install sewers is undermined by reports of raw sewage being introduced to the Connecticut River from treatment plants in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

He said the state agency should realize it’s “viewed right now as being pretty hypocritical with the amount of sewage coming down the Connecticut River that affects us and Long Island Sound and the communities around us,” he said. 

A sewer avoidance program could involve inspections and an examination of non-conforming systems to ensure septic systems are not polluting the area, according to Mesham. 

He said it’s premature to address questions about whether the town as a whole will ultimately be required to foot the bill if the state continues to push a project that is not affordable to Sound View residents alone. 

“I don’t wanna get too carried away with ‘what ifs,’” he said. “I like dealing more with what’s ahead of us.”