I’m writing this letter to serve as a reminder that the Old Lyme Republican Town Committee (RTC) has no problem making stuff up when it serves their purpose of trying to demean an opposing candidate.
In 2023 I was the incumbent candidate for Old Lyme Town Treasurer when nearly identical letters to the editor were submitted to LymeLine on October 16 by Mike Bucior and October 30 by John Flick (endorsed by the RTC for a Board of Finance seat). Each made the statement that as Treasurer I was “remiss in reporting regularly and timely to the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance to whom he reports.”
As I pointed out in my response, this statement is completely false. I wrote, “the Treasurer works with the Finance Department, not the Board of Finance. Nor do I report to the Board of Finance or Board of Selectmen either.”
Ultimately, Matt Ward won the election over me to become Town Treasurer. In a review of the 36 Board of Finance meeting minutes posted since Mr. Ward was sworn in, he has only attended one meeting. As I stated, this is not a problem for Mr. Ward because he does not report to the Board of Finance. Yet this does implicate the Old Lyme RTC which told you twice in 2023 that I was failing at my job because I rarely attended Board of Finance meetings.
Clearly the RTC and at least some of its supporters do not campaign on the facts or are woefully uninformed about the roles of town officials. Perhaps they think the public will forgive them or forget after a period of time. However, I have not forgotten and am here to caution you when you decide whom to vote for in November.
Selectman Jim Lampos, First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker and Selectwoman Jude Read (from left to right) at their Oct. 6 meeting discussed a possible January referendum vote on the Sound View sewer project.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated with comments from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection spokesman.
OLD LYME — Armed with refined cost estimates, the Board of Selectmen is pitching a January referendum vote for a sewer project that has faced resistance for decades as leaders grapple with how to pay for a cleaner Long Island Sound.
Meanwhile, Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Steve Cinami continues to warn residents a delay could cost millions.
First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker at Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting told selectmen that state elections timelines and scheduling for the registars of voters will require pushing the referendum date on the Sound View Beach sewer project to Jan. 13, 2026.
She said state election law requires the town’s tabulating machines to be locked for two weeks following the Nov. 4 election. Also crowding the schedule is the Thanksgiving holiday and a state-mandated training for the registrars in December that will limit the availability of the part-time civil servants, according to Shoemaker.
Sound View is responsible for up to $17.1 million of the $70 million proposal to require residents of four beach communities to install sewers. State and federal funding would bring the amount to be covered by Sound View residents down to $8.5 million.
Selectmen last month said there were too many unanswered questions to get the question on the ballot in time for the municipal election. But increased clarity on the amount Sound View users will have to pay, combined with the impending cost sharing agreement between the town and three private beach communities, have left selectmen ready to prepare another date.
The Old Lyme WPCA, which oversees the Sound View project, has been pushing for townwide approval before construction bids expire in mid October. The urgency was underscored when the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) informed local officials that federal funding amounting to about half the project cost is in jeopardy if the town doesn’t get the project approved soon.
After Monday’s meeting, Shoemaker said she will send the recommended referendum timeline from the Town’s Registrars of Voters Catherine Carter and Jennifer Datum to the state agency.
She said the dates were selected in accordance with the state’s election law and calendar.
“I will tell [the CT DEEP] if they have any other way to get around this, they will have to reach out to the secretary of the state’s office,” she said.
Cinami, as head of the Old Lyme WPCA, called the proposed delay ridiculous.
He said a staff attorney with the Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office told him locking down machine tabulators after the election doesn’t mean the town can’t hold a referendum using paper ballots.
Secretary of the State Spokesman Roger Senserrich on Tuesday confirmed the referendum could happen while the tabulators are locked.
Cinami said delaying until mid-January could be an expensive proposition.
“The registrar of voters works for the town, to do town business,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday. “This could cost the town $3 million if we don’t pass a referendum and get the project going prior to the beach associations signing contracts with the state.”
Cinami said the delay could make the town ineligible for the Clean Water Act funds if they are awarded at the end of December or early January, which is the timeline he’s been given.
“I don’t know what the town doesn’t understand,” he said. “I don’t think I’m a genius. I think the DEEP has been very clear what they plan on doing. And if you don’t listen to them, I think you jeopardize funding.”
The state going back to the early 1980s has pushed for an end to pollution emanating from local beach communities, leading to a 2018 consent order with Old Colony Beach, Old Lyme Shores, and Miami Beach that resulted in the current shared sewer plan. Sound View was added in 2019 after voters in a townwide referendum agreed to spend $9.5 million on the public portion of the project with the understanding that affected neighborhoods would fund it.
The new referendum vote is necessary because inflation drove up the total cost of the project, though the promise of federal funding means Sound View ratepayers would be paying less than the amount authorized in the first referendum.
The town is participating voluntarily in the sewer plan at this point. But the state has warned a consent order, like the one forcing the private beach associations to act, could be coming if progress isn’t made.
Cinami said the state set the mid-October deadline because that’s when the rest of the beach communities should be ready to move forward.
Bids on the Old Lyme Shores portion of the project, the last of the four beach communities to solicit offers, close on Wednesday.
“After that, my understanding is that the DEEP will allow the beach associations to start work,” he said. “And what I believe will eventually happen is that the town will be ordered to put in sewers.”
The WPCA in an August presentation put the cost to construct the system at $1,939 annually over 20 years for a typical user, not including annual fees estimated at $565 by the CT DEEP.
The HRT analysis, applying a 5% construction contingency for unexpected costs, estimated that construction costs and connection fees to the East Lyme sewer system enroute the New London wastewater treatment plant would amount to $2,241 per year.
Applying an 8% contingency, the number would rise to $2,292 per year.
There appeared to be consensus among selectmen to use the HRT figures as the official estimate going forward.
The HRT report noted Cinami’s estimate included an outdated price tag of $4.1 million for the shared pump station, which is now $4.8 million after the low bidder dropped out. The accountanting firm also included interest on the bond accrued during the construction period.
Cinami on Tuesday agreed the third-party estimate was fair. Taking into account that he’d applied the connection fees to the annual operations and maintenance category rather than construction costs, he said there was only about $70 separating his figures from the accountant’s estimate using the 5% contingency.
Lampos, who is both a selectman and resident of the Sound View Beach community, said the numbers prove the project is too expensive for the residents, who will have to foot the bill.
He referenced the state “rule of thumb” articulated last year at a public meeting by agency project engineer Carlos Esguerra. The rule, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance from the 1990s, says the cost is affordable to residents if it does not exceed 2% of the town’s median household income (MHI). Esguerra at the time identified Old Lyme’s MHI as $122,000, which equated to $2,440 a year.
Connecticut DEEP Spokesman James Fowler has not provided an updated affordability estimate despite several requests from LymeLine over the past few months.
Based on the accountant’s lower estimate, the cost per user goes up to around $2,800 per year when annual operations and maintenance costs are included. Lampos described that figure as “well north” of the affordability threshold.
The CT DEEP did not confirm whether the federal affordability threshold includes annual operations and maintenance costs. Cinami has said it does not.
Lampos and Shoemaker said they have not been able to get confirmation from the state agency on the affordability calcuation or its implications for this project.
Shoemaker called for answers from the state.
On Wednesday, the CT DEEP spokesman in an emailed response to questions from LymeLine said there is no affordability criteria that would allow pollution to continue because the cost was over a certain threshold.
“Affordability would only be used to determine a suitable compliance schedule,” Fowler said.
He described a financial impact assessment used by sewer service providers – sometimes referred to in shorthand as an “affordability” assessment – when a corrective plan is needed to address a pollution problem. If the assessment indicates a higher impact on residents, communities can break up projects into phases to reduce the financial impact, or seek increased funding.
“In Old Lyme’s case, DEEP offered $15 million to lessen the impact,” he said. “In bigger communities like Hartford, its sewer utility is under order and has phased projects on a priority basis and is following a specific compliance schedule to work projects to address the pollution.”
Lampos told selectmen that taking a couple weeks to get the accountant’s analysis did not add to the overall project delay. That’s because negotiations on a Cost Sharing Agreement between the four beach communities are still being ironed out and the bids for Old Lyme Shores remain outstanding.
He maintained that understanding the cost to Sound View residents and ensuring they are represented throughout the project is critical.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Sound View resident Mary Daley commended the three selectmen for their work on the complex issue.
Daley, a vocal project opponent, was appointed to the WPCA last year.
She said Lampos, Shoemaker and Selectwoman Jude Read each kept their campaign promises from two years ago.
“Because, Jude, you promised to listen, and you certainly have. And, Martha, you promised to do this also, and to ensure that Sound View was represented on the WPCA, and you have accomplished that. And, Jim, you have gone over and beyond all expectations to affect and to ensure that Sound View is treated fairly in the sewer project, and we so appreciate your efforts,” she said.
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.
Report Notes Opposition to Affordable Housing is “Softening”
The image above shows the cover photo of Lyme’s 2025 Draft Plan of Conservation and Development.
LYME, CT— Residents continue to prize the town’s rural environment and natural resources above all else.
That’s according to the 35-page draft of the 2025 Lyme Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), the town’s foundational planning document required by state statute to be updated every 10 years.
The draft comes as local officials and volunteers work to align the local vision of Lyme – painted as a safe, rural retreat by its residents – with state directives to spread more affordable housing options across all cities and towns.
The draft was produced as part of a roughly year-and-a-half-long process by the Lyme Planning and Zoning Commission and endorsed by the town’s Board of Selectmen last week. The draft will be filed with the town clerk and available for online review on Oct. 6, according to Planning and Zoning Commission member Carol House.
In a phone interview this week, House said the results show not much has changed since the 2015 plan.
“People like living in Lyme, and they want to keep a lot of it the way it is,” she said.
The draft update, obtained by LymeLine through a Freedom of Information request, is based largely on 704 responses to a survey distributed late last year to gauge opinions on topics including emergency services, open space and affordable housing. Eligible respondents live in Lyme, own property there, or volunteer with the local fire and ambulance companies.
House said the last survey distributed a decade ago garnered fewer than 300 responses. This time around, the commission brought back some questions for continuity while adding new definitions and questions to address emerging issues.
The draft report describes a population that remains willing to travel outside town borders for employment, shopping and services in order to keep the landscape unspoiled.
The vision statement, too, has remained largely consistent through two revisions over the past quarter century.
“Lyme will not attempt to become frozen in time, but will adjust to the demands and opportunities of modern life,” the statement reads. “As new technologies create the possibilities of new lifestyles, Lyme will adjust its regulations and requirements to allow people to work at home or to live in non-traditional family households. Change will occur as a result of our changing society, but in a way that preserves Lyme’s quality of life and natural resources.”
Still, House pointed to subtle shifts in the outlook among residents.
Among them is a “softening” of opposition to affordable housing, according to the draft report. Authors cited an almost 19% increase among residents in favor of using town funds to increase housing options. But they acknowledged supporters, who totaled 47.9% of respondents in the survey, still do not represent a majority.
The draft also shows new survey questions implemented this year revealed priorities not previously explored: that respondents “place a very high value on Lyme’s low crime rate and the ability to remain in their homes and community as they age.”
House, who serves as a co-chair of the town’s Affordable Housing Commission as well, said the POCD will provide guidance for the group tasked with figuring out how to diversify housing options in town. The commission has held off on proposing or implementing new plans while waiting to see what the surveys and final planning document had to say about the town’s appetite for change.
“I think all of that together will provide a clearer picture for how we need to move ahead with affordable housing,” she said.
First Selectman David Lahm in a Thursday phone interview said the “will of the people” is evident in the draft document.
“Open space is still the priority,” he said.
That doesn’t mean affordable housing is not an important factor, according to Lahm. He said survey responses show that encouraging accessory dwelling units (ADUs) – also known as in-law apartments, guest houses and granny pods – and affordable single-family homes can be a solution in town.
“The one thing they are not in favor of is multi unit housing,” he said.
The town’s environmental ethos has remained unchanged since the publication of the first plan in 1964, when town leaders laid the groundwork for a focus on farming and conservation they hoped would keep the town’s population of 1,300 relatively steady despite the completion of nearby Interstate 95 only a few years prior.
At the time, they feared the town’s inhabitants could number 5,000 by 1990 if left unchecked. So they put in zoning and subdivision controls restricting commercial development to existing areas in Hamburg and Hadlyme while keeping large tracts of undeveloped land intact.
Today, U.S. Census figures count the population today at 2,352 people. Land records show more than half the town’s land mass is preserved as open space.
Minimum lot sizes in Lyme now range from one to three acres across town in order to limit how many homes can be built. Only 4% of respondents said they believed smaller lot sizes should be allowed.
The document calls for Lyme’s “aggressive sewer avoidance program” to continue, with regular inspections and maintenance of septic systems and required pumping.
The draft is being presented against the backdrop of a state vision, outlined in the Connecticut Conservation and Development Policies Plan, that describes thriving economies and increased affordable housing as key components of sustainable, equitable, vibrant and resilient communities.
According to the plan’s authors, Lyme’s vision is in keeping with state goals for conservation and development.
“The State Plan is based on an overall philosophy of anti-sprawl, directing growth to those areas of Connecticut where infrastructure such as roads, public water and public sewers already exists, or where infrastructure can easily be expanded,” the document reads. “The State’s Plan also recommends that extensive growth be avoided in sensitive environmental areas and areas where little infrastructure exists. Lyme’s Plan meets both criteria.”
The draft POCD, stating that “uncontrolled growth and poor planning” can drastically change a town, emphasized the need to act in ways that preserve Lyme’s rural atmosphere.
Recommendations include increasing the availability of housing by converting existing homes into affordable units, promoting ADUs and creating design standards for residential development.
The plan continues to support farming, farm markets and work-from-home enterprises. Recommendations include limiting commercial development to existing zones while investigating regulations “that support local tradespeople, certain essential service providers and farm stores.”
The draft report acknowledges more than 50% of land in town is protected as open space, but cautioned there’s still a lot of room for growth: “If future development on Lyme’s remaining available land is not carefully monitored and controlled, Lyme could quickly be transformed into a more suburban town.”
Recommendations call for strengthening land use regulations, preserving open fields and cultural features, maintaining an inventory of historic sites, and educating residents about sensitive areas. Farmland should be safeguarded through policies that protect the town’s agricultural roots and promote local food production. Open space preservation should focus on large, connected tracts managed for biodiversity through dedicated funding in partnership with local, regional and state groups.
The POCD survey for the first time includes questions about emergency services, which exist locally as the publicly funded Lyme Fire Department and privately funded Lyme Ambulance Association.
Respondents supported continuing the volunteer-based models for the fire department and ambulance association, according to the draft report. Ambulance company leaders during a stakeholder interview said taxpayer funding for facilities and equipment will become necessary in the coming years.
Data in the report puts the number of ambulance association calls at 300 per year. The Town provides one bay in each firehouse, fuel for the ambulances, workers compensation coverage and a pension plan for those who qualify. The nonprofit organization’s operating costs and capital expenses for vehicles and equipment are funded by donations and by billing insurance companies.
Lahm credited the POCD writing committee, consisting of House, David Tiffany, Jennifer Tiffany and Mary Stone, for a job well done.
“They put a lot of hard work into that and came up with a good product,” he said.
A public hearing must be held no sooner than 35 days from the filing of the plan with the town clerk. A date has not yet been set, according to House. She said the commission hopes to schedule two hearing dates to ensure as many people as possible can participate.
The draft document will then go back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for any revisions and a final vote before the new year, House said.
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.”
