Category Archives: Town Hall

Scientists Continue Fight Against Hydrilla Scourge; Presentation in Lyme on Latest Efforts

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This photo was taken September 2020 during an inspection of Whalebone Cove when it was found 60 to 70 percent of the waterways were clogged with hydrilla vines.

LYME – Experts on the Connecticut River hydrilla will be at the Town Hall on Wednesday to talk about plans to include Hamburg Cove in a growing, multi-year effort to reduce and control the highly invasive water weed. 

The presentation will begin at 7 p.m., according to a public notice filed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). A question and answer period will follow. 

The Connecticut River Hydrilla project, overseen by the Army engineers in partnership with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments, began in 2023 to figure out which aquatic herbicides ― and how much of them ― are best suited to fighting off the uniquely pernicious aquatic species. 

The USACE said herbicides will be introduced to Hamburg Cove this summer or fall. All herbicides being used are registered for aquatic use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The project last year applied an herbicide treatment to Selden Cove and several other sites on the lower Connecticut River. 

Hydrilla degrades water quality, chokes out native plants and threatens the habitat of migratory fish like shad and herring, according to the Connecticut River Conservatory. It’s been described by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D, as, “the worst invasive aquatic species known to man.”

Wednesday’s meeting will be in-person only, according to the notice. There will be information on the project itself as well as the concerning effects of hydrilla on the Connecticut River system.

Registration is requested. Those interested in attending should email info@eightmileriver.org.

Op-Ed: After HROD Defeat, Some Thoughts on Improving Old Lyme’s Approach to Managing Major Projects Going Forward

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Editor’s Note: We originally published this op-ed submitted by Howard Margules of Old Lyme on July 12, 2024. After the 4-1 defeat of the Halls Road Overlay District proposal by Old Lyme’s Zoning Commission last Monday (April 14), several members of the Halls Road Improvement Committee, including its former chair Edie Twining—who resigned yesterday—suggested republishing it as a constructive contribution to the discussion regarding how to move forward from this point.

Is a Town Planner the Answer?

Our town’s major projects—Halls Road, sewers, Shoreline Gateway, and Affordable Housing—are all vital to our town’s future economic viability. 

They also share something else in common: they have been “works in process” for quite a while, and all remain unfinished. It is important to point out that these projects have been ongoing across multiple administrations, regardless of which political party is in power; so this is not a partisan issue but one that crosses party lines. 

Why do these projects take so long to complete, and what can be done to expedite them?

Over the last ten years I have been involved, one way or another, in most of these projects. 

I am a current member of both the Halls Road Improvement Committee and the Planning Commission and the former Chair of the Economic Development Commission. Thinking back on my front-row experiences has led me to some observations on those questions and suggestions for improving timely project completion.

Relying on Volunteers

Our town is very fortunate to have a motivated, engaged volunteer corps staffing our town Boards, Committees and Commissions. I have worked with good people from both parties, and I have been generally impressed with the competence, knowledge and commitment they bring to the job. And, they are doing this work for “free.” 

But, there are issues with relying on volunteers. 

First, there is a town requirement that the Boards and Commissions be balanced politically. This occasionally leads to appointments made simply to fulfill the political balance requirement rather than appointing the most qualified individual.

Additionally, there have been instances where the Committee or Board Chair has had no input in the selection, or, objected to the appointment, but was overruled, even though the person appointed was not the best candidate. 

Second, our town relies almost solely on volunteers to address some very complex projects which often require specific expertise and knowledge that may be absent in our volunteers. 

Additionally, most Boards and Commissions only meet once per month, which is acceptable for routine issues but inadequate for addressing major complex projects. 

Finally, it is also difficult to put too much pressure or expectations on volunteers since they can always elect to just bow out. Relying almost totally on volunteers makes it hard for the town to complete major projects successfully in a timely fashion.

Low Accountability

Many municipalities, especially larger ones, employ a full- or part-time professional planner, to lead major projects. They are professionals with the expertise required to address the complex issues major projects raise. Most importantly, they are held accountable as professionals for completing projects. 

Currently, we don’t have the structure or ability to hold any one person accountable. Accountability gets more complicated given the number of Boards and Commissions involved, various interests that have to be satisfied, and political agendas that occasionally get in the way.

Lack of Collaboration

All of these major projects require approvals from multiple Boards and Commissions Typically, this is done sequentially. One Board or Commission generates proposals that then require approval from another body. Of course, it is natural then for everyone to want to add their two cents. 

The sequential review and approval process frequently leads to varied opinions, occasionally to conflicts, and thus delays. Each set of potential conflicts must be resolved in sequence, drawing out the process and the projects unnecessarily. 

In my view, it would be more beneficial to provide a mechanism for the Boards and Commissions to collaborate initially, perhaps reaching broad consensus and some level of buy-in before the official approval process. 

The Board of Selectman should form a specific project committee for each major effort. We do have some such now, but they do not include representatives of the bodies that will have to provide approval later on. 

The relevant Boards and Commissions or representatives of those bodies need to be involved early in the project, if not from its inception. 

Relevant Expertise

Expert advice (engineering, law, environmental science, design, etc.) is required for these major projects. We are very fortunate in Old Lyme to have a wide range of skills represented in our citizenry and we have benefitted from their help over many years. 

Unfortunately, those with the most relevant skills are often still working, raising children, etc. and have little time to volunteer. We can take advantage of these local skills where they are available, but major projects need consistent and constant expert input, even if it means we must hire professionals to assist.  

Even to manage the work of hired experts can require Board or Commission members to climb a steep learning curve.This is another area in which a professional planner could be very helpful.

Leadership

Finally, these complex projects require engaged leadership from the Board of Selectmen. The Board of Selectmen needs to assist with coordination, monitoring, oversight, timetables, expense control, lobbying public officials for funding, and commit to completing projects on time and on budget.

Our town will face more challenges going forward. If we are to successfully face these challenges and secure our economic future, we need to enhance our approach to supporting and managing major projects.

BREAKING NEWS: Halls Road Improvements Committee Chair Edie Twining Resigns

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OLD LYME — This afternoon, Halls Road Improvements Committee Chairwoman Edie Twining submitted her resignation in a letter to Old Lyme First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker. Twining’s resignation from the volunteer position is with immediate effect.

The text of Twining’s letter is as follows:

“Dear Martha,  

It is with a heavy heart that I resign as a member and Chair of the Halls Road Improvements Committee (HRIC). My family has been part of Old Lyme for three generations. When I returned to Old Lyme after living in Boston for 40 years, I followed in my father’s footsteps volunteering for the town. My  commitment to this committee has spanned over 8 years and many thousands of unpaid hours of work. In that time, the committee held dozens of public outreach sessions, responded to feedback and created  a Vision Proposal that informed the Halls Road Master Plan. All of my efforts have been done as a volunteer and, contrary to false accusations on social media, I have never had or sought any monetary gain, direct or indirect, from my involvement on the committee.  

The committee has received multitudes of letters of support for both the Master Plan and the Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) proposals, Planning Board Approval, detailed Zoning Commission review and dozens of public outreach sessions. To those supporters; I am deeply grateful for your attention to this  committee’s work and for your ongoing support. You understood the HRIC was never a partisan project,  but sought the benefit of the whole town, regardless of political affiliation!  

Despite seven years of very public effort, well publicized by friends and foes, many people claim never to  have been aware of the HRIC and its efforts to improve pedestrian safety, add new crossings, and update our 1960’s commercial-only zoning with a mixed-use option. Those who have followed the HRIC process have seen the multiple layers of work we have done and provided constructive suggestions that have altered the plan. Many who opposed it and chose to never attend a meeting, never visit the town website (where all details were publicly available), claim, instead that all of this was proceeding covertly with no community outreach. The fact that they chose not to attend any public meetings, not to read the detail on the town website or get involved does not give them the excuse to say the public was not informed.  

Critics have relentlessly misrepresented and misunderstood the plan, its aims, the challenges faced by the town, and the nature of the solutions proposed. This pervasive disregard for facts culminated in the latest campaign of wild exaggerations meant to mislead our community about the goals and details of the HROD proposal. The social media avalanche of invented nightmares and half-truths is indicative of the poisonous, adversarial politics that is tearing our country – and now our town – to pieces. None of those opposing the proposal ever directly asked the committee to explain how the regulation works, nor did they ever suggest any concrete alternative proposals.  

They were not interested in squarely facing our Town’s future in a changing world. Instead, they created a monstrous fantasy version of the HROD proposal that no one could support, used it to whip up a storm of protest, and set out to bully the town’s officers into submitting to their fantasy. 

The Zoning Commission’s refusal to deliberate, and abandonment of their efforts to modify the HROD  proposal in any way, was, in my view, an abdication of the Commission’s rights and responsibilities. The most important statement about the whole process was made by Zoning Commission member Denise  Savageau. She blamed the dysfunctional Old Lyme bureaucracy for failing after 10 years to work together constructively to create a unified plan and new zoning for Halls Road. It was, is, and should have been treated from the beginning as a TOWN effort. Instead, an appointed committee of the Board of Selectmen was treated by other Boards and Commissions the same way they treat a private person applying for permission to make modifications to their house. That approach doomed the effort from the start, because it foreclosed the possibility of collaboration and working together to frame what was  needed. The separate silos of Planning, Zoning, and HRIC; the fiction that the town itself could not demand that the three cooperate with one another—all of these, in retrospect, were fatal errors.  

This “us vs. them” madness is such a sad and destructive trend both locally and nationally. There seems no way to fight back against waves of falsehoods. So, I am leaving all the work we have accomplished to those who come after. If they do nothing, outside forces will dictate our town’s future. Meanwhile I look forward to contributing my time to more productive pursuits in my board positions with the Old Lyme Land Trust, Old Lyme Historical Society and my design work for the New London Homeless Hospitality  Center.  

Respectfully,  

Edie Twining”

Editor’s Notes: i)Twining also provided a list of the committee’s accomplishments.
ii) A reminder of Our Policy on Comments.


Letter to the Editor: Old Lyme Selectman Thanks Board of Finance for ‘a Job Well Done’ at Tuesday’s Budget Meeting

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Editor’s Note: This letter was published April 17, after the Board of Finance meeting held April 15.

To the Editor:

I’d like to thank the Old Lyme Board of Finance for a job well done, completing work begun jointly with the Board of Selectmen in December to produce a prudent, fiscally-sound budget.  Through good compromise and the identification of additional savings, the budget for our upcoming fiscal year maintains a healthy surplus while keeping our taxes as low as possible. 

Our new proposed mill rate of 16.2 is among the lowest in the state, and holding taxes to a modest 4.52% increase is quite an accomplishment in this inflationary environment.   

Two voter-approved projects:  renovation of schools and Senior Center expansion, both hit the budget this year, presenting a special challenge.  Over the course of several hours-long, publicly-held budget workshops through January and into early February, the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance met together with the heads of all departments, boards, commissions and committees to discuss, analyze and justify each expenditure.   These joint meetings were conducted with mutual respect and fair-mindedness from all parties.   

The Board of Finance continued their deliberations through April, culminating in a contentious meeting this past Tuesday night.   At the 11th hour, a compromise was reached:   $800,000 from the surplus would be dedicated to mill rate reduction, which along with over $170,000 in additional savings identified by First Selectwoman Shoemaker, would bring us close to the $1,000,000 in tax relief we were seeking for our townspeople.   The budget now goes to the voters for a public hearing on April 28th at 6:30pm at Town Hall.   The final vote by town residents will take place at a May 19th town meeting at the LOL Middle School.  I believe we are presenting a solid budget that meets the needs of our citizens while keeping taxes as low as possible, and I appreciate the effort of all those involved.

Sincerely,

Jim Lampos,
Old Lyme.

Letter to the Editor: Old Lyme Selectman Recommends Transferring $1.3M from Town’s Surplus to Reduce Residents’ Tax Burden

Editor’s Note: This letter was published April 13, prior to the Board of Finance meeting held April 15.

To the Editor:

An Open Letter to the Residents of Old Lyme

On Tuesday, the Board of Finance will meet to set the mill rate which will determine Old Lyme residents’ property tax burden.  Over the past two years, the Board of Selectmen has worked cooperatively with the Board of Finance to craft fiscally-prudent budgets that have resulted in hefty surpluses. Indeed, this year through the concerted efforts of not only these two boards but also all town staff and volunteers, we have a record surplus of nearly $15 million, or 33% of next year’s budget.

This surplus is not an accident. Knowing that the next two fiscal years would present challenges due to expenses incurred by voter-approved projects such as the school renovation and Senior Center expansion, the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance concurred that we would need to have a hefty surplus going into this period in order to have the ability to provide some tax relief when setting the mill rate.

Most towns are expected to have a surplus of 15%. Being a shoreline community with exposure to potential loss of revenue due to hurricanes, Old Lyme has maintained a higher surplus. A 30% surplus is extraordinary and ideal for bond rating agencies to maintain Old Lyme’s AAA rating. With this year’s very healthy surplus, we can afford to move $1.3 million from surplus to tax relief and still maintain a 30% surplus.   

Doing so would also allow the town to set a mill rate of 16.09. This is substantially lower than our current mill rate of 24.4, but due to this year’s state mandated revaluation, many people’s property values have also increased significantly. In real terms, a mill rate of 16.09 would reflect a very modest 3.81% tax increase from last year.   This modest increase fully accounts for all burdens, including the school budget.

Surveying other towns in our regions, this is very good news indeed. We are faring far better than towns that are experiencing 10% tax hikes or more.  While it has been common practice to use surplus to offset tax increases in the past ($600,000-$800,000 was common two or three years ago), at the most recent Board of Finance meeting there were members who were reluctant to approve anything over $600,000.   Settling for this would only allow us to cut the rate to 16.38, and would reflect a 5.65% real increase.  This is still not bad in terms of what we are seeing in neighboring towns, but since revaluation has doubled some homeowner’s property values, we need to provide as much tax relief as we possibly can while maintaining services and fiscal prudence.

It is important to remember that the surplus is excess money that the town has collected from taxpayers.  We need to provide our taxpayers a dividend.   As we speak, numbers are still not completely finalized and we are still working to identify further budget cuts as well.  And while I understand that, even though we would still maintain a very robust 30% surplus, some may find moving $1.3 million to tax relief to be too much.  But I think many would agree that $600,000 is far too little.   I encourage those who are interested in this question to attend this Tuesday’s Board of Finance meeting.

Sincerely,

Jim Lampos,
Old Lyme.

Editor’s Note: The author serves on the Old Lyme Board Selectmen.

After Much Disagreement, Old Lyme Board of Finance Decides to Take $800K From ‘Rainy Day Fund’ to Offset Tax Increase

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OLD LYME – With many residents concerned by the recent revaluation that hiked the value of taxable property in town by more than 60%, the Old Lyme Board of Finance on Wednesday evening agreed to use $800,000 from the town’s ‘Rainy Day Fund’ to help mitigate the impact to taxpayers of a proposed $45.39 million 2025-26 spending plan. 

The proposed budget – which includes town operations and capital expenses as well as the town’s share of the Lyme-Old Lyme Schools regional district budget – represents an increase of $3.28 million, or 7.8%, over the current budget. 

It includes education costs in the amount of $31.52 million, which is up $1.99 million, or 6.72%, from the town’s current share of the regional school district budget. The increase is driven by debt payments on a multi-building renovation project approved by voters at a cost of $57.5 million. 

The Old Lyme budget proposal will now go to a public hearing on Monday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall meeting room. 

Based on preliminary numbers provided by Finance Board Chairman Bennett J. Bernblum, a Democrat, the  decision to use $800,000 from the town’s reserves will result in a projected tax rate of 16.2 mills, an increase of 4.5%. 

The tax rate would be going up 6.8% if the finance board didn’t move to offset the increase, he said.

A mill represents $1 in tax per $1,000 of assessed property value.  

The current tax rate is 24.4 mills. After taking the revaluation into account – and if spending did not change at all in the coming year – the tax rate would be 15.5 mills. 

The board of finance will not set the final tax rate until immediately after the budget is approved at the Town Budget Meeting on May 19. The Lyme-Old Lyme Schools budget referendum is scheduled for May 6.

Contacted by phone on Wednesday, Assessor Melinda Kronfeld said that she will not be able to detail the potential tax impact until the town’s Grand List of taxable property is finalized after the Board of Assessment Appeals concludes its hearings next week. 

She said the median increase in real estate values was 64% based on preliminary numbers. That means anyone whose property value went up more than that will see a tax bill higher than the projected 4.5% increase. 

Finance board member David Kelsey, a Republican, said during this week’s meeting that about 2,200 of the 5,500 households in town were looking at above-average property tax increases. 

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker on Thursday said the budget increase is driven by debt service on the school renovation project as well as the renovation to the Lymes’ Senior Center that is nearing completion. On the town side, the $702,350 debt service line that includes the senior center project represents a 62.9% increase over current spending.

In the capital budget, the town allocated $443,500 to save for the purchase of three fire department apparatuses. Also included in the budget is an additional $200,000 for road-paving projects, bringing the total line item to $1 million.

Shoemaker last week carried out a finance board directive to come up with some last-minute cuts by working with Finance Director Anita Mancini and department heads to slash $171,350 from the proposed budget. While decreases to individual line items were typically less than $5,000 each, a notable savings came from paying for a $50,746 equipped police cruiser using revenue collected from the fund for officers’ road construction detail assignments rather than the capital budget.

‘Who Knows?’

Finance Director Anita Mancini in budget documents estimated the Rainy Day Fund, known in accounting parlance as the Undesignated Fund Balance, currently represents 35.15% of the total operating budget. 

Using $800,000 to offset the tax increase will bring the Rainy Day Fund balance to an estimated 29.6% of the total operating budget, according to budget numbers. 

The move was a compromise between Republicans, who wanted to take out less from the Rainy Day Fund, and Democrats, who wanted to use more. 

Democrat Kimberly Thompson put it this way: “There are a lot of people who’ve had major adjustments to their evaluation of their property. And I think whatever we can do to minimize the impact of that this year, we should try and do.”

Republicans Kelsey and Andy Russell said they want to make sure there’s enough money in reserve in case a catastrophic storm wipes out the shoreline tax base. 

Russell invoked the idea of a 100-year storm when he said the Hurricane of 1938 occurred almost a century ago. A storm of that magnitude has a 1% chance of occurring each year, but hasn’t happened since. 

“Well, here we are,” he said. “That’s only 13 years away. So who knows?” 

Kelsey pointed to large-scale projects that could impact future budgets such as the installation of sewers in the town’s beach communities which will require extensive appropriations in coming years.  

He also pointed to unknown costs that could hit at any time. This year, those unexpected costs amounted to $1.65 million. Included in that amount were the construction of the Emergency Operations Center, reconstruction of the Hawk’s Nest sluiceway, construction and paving of accessible parking spaces in the Sound View parking lot and a comprehensive revision of the town’s zoning regulations.  

Finance Board Chair Bernblum said the town’s bond attorney advised him creditors like to see undesignated fund balances in the amount of 30% of the total budget, but that the town’s AAA rating with S&P Global Ratings would be unlikely to change if the amount went down to 25%. 

“In general, I’m informed by what I think the sentiment of the taxpayers would be, and without having done a study, my gut tells me that they would argue for a larger withdrawal in order to mitigate their taxes this year,” he said. 

He cited those on fixed incomes as the most vulnerable to the tax increase. He said he was less worried about himself and fellow finance board members Kelsey and Russell. 

“I don’t care too much about Dave or me or Andy, for that matter, if our houses went up in value because we can afford to pay it,” he said. “But there are folks in town who can’t, and for them it’s a real burden.” 

Thompson, who also serves as chairwoman of the Democratic Town Committee, expressed confusion about the unwillingness of the Republicans to agree to a larger withdrawal from the Rainy Day Fund when the finance board under Kelsey’s leadership set aside money to mitigate tax increases several times, including $600,000 in 2023 and $800,000 each year in 2022, 2020 and 2019. 

“And in all those years, I don’t think we ever actually ended up needing that money,” she said. 

Meanwhile, the Undesignated Fund Balance (Rainy Day Fund) has grown from 22.2% in 2020 to the current 35.2%. 

Finance board member Anna Reiter, a Democrat, pushed for a $1 million withdrawal from the Rainy Day Fund. 

“We could take out another million next year and another $900,000 a year after that, assuming we don’t increase this fund at all. And we would still be at over 25%,” she said. 

But Kelsey and Russell pointed to debt levels in the school district and the town that will be felt for years to come. 

“I think the stakes have changed,” Russell said. “I think the increases we’re seeing and are going to see in the next few years are going to be more significant consistently than we’ve seen in the past.”

Ultimately, the group decided against a suggestion from First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker to let voters decide at the budget referendum how much to take out of the Rainy Day Fund and then against Bernblum’s subsequent idea to leave it up for discussion at the public hearing. 

The vote to set aside $800,000 was endorsed by Republicans Kelsey, Russell, and Matthew Olson along with Democrats Bernblum and Thompson. Reiter (D) was the lone nay vote.

Editor’s Notes: i) This article has been updated to correct some budget terminology and figures
ii) Bennett Bernblum is a financial supporter of LymeLine.com, but has no input to the editorial process, which remains completely independent.
ii) A reminder of Our Policy on Comments.