Board of Selectmen - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. I'll call to order this regular Board of Selectmen meeting on May 18th, 2026 at 530 p.m. In attendance, we have our Selectmen John Misham and Jen Lampos and First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker. As far as information items, communications and correspondence, a lot of these will be handled for me and my updates of projects. Basically, I've just heard from people asking questions about speeding. speeding, what's going on at Haynes Park, what's going on at the, on Halls Road as far as the trees and plantings, but that's about it for me. John?

I have nothing. We had a correspondence from someone in Soundview about golf carts.

Oh, and so they were asking about.

They were asking about extending hours to 10 o'clock.

We talked about. Right.

Oh, yeah. I apologize. Yeah, I did.

Yeah, we did.

Correspondence about the Andrew and Bill Messina. So I know we did talk about it specifically with the police and they were at a very strong opinion that it'd be sundown. I remember, I think. And I know that there's Collins was talking about it. Stress the importance. But should we?

We can run it by taking up.

I just yeah, I just suggested that if they wanted to try to make a case for it to look at if that's being done in any other town so that we would have at least something to gauge it by. And they were receptive to that. That's good.

And I And I'm not sure if this is the exact same one. Why are we having requesting headlights? And I said, well, we request headlights on our cars as well. And they're supposed to be on during the day as well. So I said, it's just the rules. And we took the state mandate and implemented it into ours. And I, she said, well, will we get a ticket if we're out at nine 15? And, you know, we just finished up at the Carousel. And I said, I don't think any of our police officers are looking to ticket someone. But if you are doing something illegally, driving erratically, don't have your headlights on, they may ticket you for that infraction. So that's what I said.

Okay. Public comment.

None in the audience. Is there anyone online who would like to offer public comment? If you do, Michael or 860-508-1058, please unmute yourself.

Okay, hearing none, we're moving on to approval of minutes.

You have our minutes from the regular Board of Selectmen meeting on May 4th. Can I have a motion to approve those? And then we can discuss if there's any changes that need to be made.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Thank you, Jim. John, can I have a second? Second.

Okay.

Any changes that anyone sees? None by me.

I didn't have any either.

I didn't see anything.

It's just because Jen's perfect. Okay. So can we call for a vote? All those in favor of approving the regular Board of Selectmen minutes from May 4th, 2026, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Then we had a very quick meeting on May 6th. It was a virtual meeting only. Can I have a motion to approve those minutes?

Make a motion to approve the minutes for the special Board of Selectmen meeting May 6th. I will second.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Jim.

Any changes to those?

I see none. I'm good.

Okay.

Hearing no comments on those, call for a vote. All those to approve those minutes, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Next one is our special board of selectmen meeting on May 8th. At 10 a.m., also a virtual meeting only. It lasted for four minutes. Can I have a motion to approve those minutes?

I have a motion to approve minutes of May 8th. Second. Thank you both.

Okay, anything that you see on that that needs to be changed?

I don't see anything. I'm good.

Okay.

Okay.

All those in favor of approving the minutes of May 8th, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes. Okay, next up is appointments. We have two appointments today. Trenton Wright applied back in March and has been attending the EDC May minutes and has been an active participant. Although he's not a vote, can't vote, but he has been offering information. He would like to serve on the economic development, and he's been approved by the co-chairs, Jeff Hartman and Joe Kamian. So this would be for the regular four position, and his term would be from February 1st, 25 to 131.30. Can I have a motion to appoint Trenton?

I'll make a motion to appoint Trenton right to the EDC. Regular four position, term expiring 1.30, 1.30. Second. Thank you both.

Any further discussion?

Okay. Hearing none, all those in favor of appointing Trenton Wright to this position on EDC, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. We also received an application from Heather Gagnon, for the position on affordable housing, which is also the regular four position. That term is a three-year term for 2-1 to 131-29. She says that she went to a meeting in 25. I did reach out to the chair, Sheila Ripple, today to see if she had spoken to Allison, if she remembered Allison coming to a meeting. I have not heard back from Sheila as of five o'clock tonight. So We could table this if that's what we want to do until our next meeting in two weeks. Or I don't know Heather at all. I don't know if either of you do.

I know Heather, and I think if she said that she went in 2025, she appeared. So I will make a motion to appoint Heather Gagnon to the Affordable Housing Commission. I will second.

Any further discussion? All those? Signify by saying aye if you approve.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. You getting all this, Jim? Because we're going pretty fast. Okay, next up is the Public Works Fuel Tank Repair, and I did print this out for you. Eric wrote up a nice report for us. There was an inspection on the fuel tanks at the Public Works Garage, and they are above ground. They were installed in 2017. They're are some issues and defects, and they should be addressed soon. The inspection summary is attached. It's the page three, and then there is also a total proposal cost of $11,307 to fix them. And one of the things that Eric said is there is a chance that water could get into the tank that we would prefer not to have happened in this day and age. So with the cost of gasoline being so expensive. So this is not, we would approve this to go to board of finance. Eric has talked to Anita. There's some, well, he pulled some ideas and I have to where the funding could come from. And the board of finance would have to approve one of those later this evening. they are aware that this is coming before them.

Would it come between an existing fund?

There are a couple of options, and they could also appropriate the money because it's under $20,000 if they choose to do so. I haven't had a chance to speak with Anita on the options that Eric proposed last Thursday because Anita was on vacation for two days. So we haven't sat down today, but we will be for the

730 meeting. So basically, it is just approving this to go forward to the court of finance.

This is a concrete tank.

It says it's an above ground tank. I thought it was I thought it was metal based.

I knew that the control panel had been giving us problems because I know that they've sort of jerry-rigged that for the last thing.

The control panel predates the actual installation of the tanks.

Yes.

It's another one of those issues where it being now brought to our attention, you can't really neglect it.

Right.

Well, they've already pumped out a gallon of water, so it needs to get some. I would make a motion to approve.

To send this?

To the Board of Finance for their approval.

Okay.

Second.

Thank you both. Any further discussion? Okay.

As it is, it's one of those things that consistent maintenance is important. And some of these things had been ignored. So, okay. So all those in favor of moving the expense to fix the fuel tank inspection, fuel tank issues at the Public Works, as well as the control panel, please signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Okay. Then we get on to summer hours. So for the last two years, I've had staff members come to me and ask if we could have summer hours here at Town Hall. And we've done some, Katie did some extensive research. Some of the smaller towns around us are actually, they close every Friday at noon. Um, that doesn't mean people necessarily stop working. It's just that we stopped serving public. Um, but the CEOs that I spoke to all said that was the time they get the most work done. So I, we had a staff recently made a staff meeting and I said, if you want to propose some options, you could put them in and I would run it by the board of selectmen. So we have four options that were, um, given by staff members. And this is something that we can chat about. And I'm here to look for your opinions on what happens. This would be basically from the first week of June. We would do it starting the first week of June so that we could notify people after the Memorial Day weekend. And then first week of June to the weekend of Labor Day.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, what are the options?

Oh, I sent them to you. I'm sorry.

I sent them to you last week.

I guess I missed that.

It's all right. I don't have really a preference of any, except there was one that was way too big. We had an option, but there were too many changes on every single day. Nobody knew when to come to work. So we decided that was not a very viable option.

Yeah, my thoughts were that if the staff or the public had any strong feelings about it. I could go with any of these. But in general, I think regular hours for either businesses or government offices or whatever is very important. So the consistency of option C I think is attractive. I mean, a consistent opening time I think is important. So whether that time is 8 or 8.30, I'm not sure that you'll be having people bang down your doors at 7.30. So, yeah, I don't see that. So maybe, you know, 8 to 4 every day and 8 to 11 on Friday.

That way everybody knows the same opening time.

What's that?

The the opening time then changes. I mean, it is nice for people who are going to work that they can stop in early in the morning to pay taxes. They can also come in and to get their parking passes for the beach, things like that, that they normally would do. We do offer two nights that we're open late this tomorrow night. Wednesday night is another late night that we stay open until seven to accommodate people who need to come in for a golf cart or a a parking pass for the summer and are coming into town or coming home from work.

How much foot traffic do you have Friday afternoons in general?

Last week, we had 11 people here. I counted. We kept track just to see.

Yeah, I mean, I'm with Jim, like the simpler the better. So I kind of like the option B. We're Friday eight to 11 to be consistent with eight to four.

Okay. Monday through Thursday, eight to four, Friday, eight to 11 or nine to 12. Let's just keep the eight to 11.

Make it consistent. That's yeah. People know what time we open basically.

Okay. So does somebody want to make a motion for option B?

I'll make a motion for option B.

Okay.

John, would you like to second?

Can we amend it so that it's option B with Friday 8 to 11? Yep.

Actually, that is, if I'm not mistaken, option C. Because option B has Monday through Thursday 8 to 4, Friday either 8 to 11 or 9 to 12. Option C is Monday through Thursday 8 to 4, Friday 8 to 11.

Very good reading. Absolutely. Perfect. Thank you. They're basically the same thing, except it clarifies 8 to 11 only. So this comes off of option C. Sure. So let's do option C. I'll second.

Jim wants to amend.

Jim, would you like to amend?

I'll amend the motion to approve option C. Second.

Okay. Any further discussion? Thank you both very much. All those in favor of option C for summer hours, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Okay. Old business. Was it only this Monday? Jacket's on. There was a site walk out in front. In the afternoon, it was attended by the EDC members. It was attended by BFW. Dick Mason, Tim Griswold were here, and I believe one other member from BFW was here. As I mentioned, we did have a letter from the American Legion, all stating that they would like the byway markers out in front. Dick was here and Tim. They walked around, they optioned in front of the pine tree, they went over to the garden. And when they came back in, the historic district suggested, made the recommendation that they would like to see them on black matte granite in the garden, no higher than six inches above the grade of ground. So that is what they voted at that particular point in time.

And that's where it stands as of this moment.

So when you're saying that the garden?

That garden over in front, this side. So basically they're supposed to be mounted on the black mat granite, no more than 20 inches apart in the front of the garden. And they'll have to rework their garden They thought that because it says that it's presented to the town from the Duck River Garden Club, that the sign should be in a garden.

What was the height?

Six inches from in the back off the grade of the ground. At that point in time, I did point out to them that this is a tripping hazard. Because there are people, A, who work in the garden. Two, there are people who stand in the garden to take their picture every summer day. We had a woman out here today that took pictures of that sign in the garden for over 20 minutes. We have no idea what she was doing, but she just had her phone and was just photographing things at ground level and just taking photos. So... that point in time, I have not had a conversation yet with Eric Knapp, a brief one. And he's a little unsure if they actually can tell us where to put the sign. So we'll further that conversation in the weeks. We've got like six to eight weeks before the signs arrive. But you can... be thinking.

And to be clear, the signs do fit on the wings of the existing.

Very nicely. You both saw the picture that was done by Dr. Pinn. He did an AI version. Some people were bothered by the star, but the star was from Mary Ellen doing, you know, she cut out stars to represent the size. And she did an excellent, Mary Ellen Basham did an absolutely excellent job of taking the exact sizes of the byway marker mounting them on stock heavy fiber board so that we could see what they would look like if they were mounted on a mount. And that's a one inch border all the way around. But the star bothered some people because it drew your eye to it.

And that kind of the idea.

Glad you said it, Jim. I mean, the stars are actually historic because, I mean, that's what people used to hang in their windows during World War II. That's what this whole premise is. So I'm a little... I don't get it. I don't either. I guess we can take a look in between now and whenever we decide something.

I just don't see the point of adding new stones in the garden when we have an existing memorial that has an appropriate place.

And Nick Fulton was here as well.

It would be less expense.

It would be more focus. Yeah, I actually like the wings because there's nothing there and I think it just actually fits pretty well. So for adding something to the memorial to sign and with the VFW and the American Legion giving their blessing, I'm a little disappointed that there's pushback on that plan.

I agree. I agree. We could make a motion to put them on the wings of the memorial and just let the process play out. At least we'll make our feelings known.

If you'd like to do that, I'm happy to second it. I think we might even get a third.

I'd like to make a motion to put the blue and gold star memorials on the existing. Veterans Memorial in front of the wings.

I'll second. And any further discussion? Would you like to?

I mean, we do. We do have time, so I kind of hate to.

Would you like me to draft a letter that we could co-author and? forward to the Historic District?

Yeah. I don't want to step on toes or unnecessarily get people angry.

I'm happy to do that. I'll work on a letter and then I'll send it to both of you in draft form. You can redline it any which way you want. Then we'll come up with a thing and the next time we can send it. We'd like to do it before their next meeting. So that should be, I think it's the first, what was today? This was the third Monday? of the month, so the third Monday, no, that was special sidewalk. So it was, they're the first Monday of the month. So we have to get it done before then. I just printed these out for you, this, the old economic development. I didn't vote on the motion. I'm sorry. Thank you, Jen. We have to vote on the motion.

Or you can withdraw. I'll withdraw the motion. And do I need to make a motion for you to draft a letter? I don't think so, right? I'll just drop it.

You want to withdraw the motion?

Yes, I withdraw the motion.

I'll amend my second. Just withdraw the motion. Anyone? And you want to make a motion to draft a letter?

I'll make a motion to have a letter drafted expressing our opinion that the markers should go on the wings.

I will second that. Any further discussion on the letter? Okay, hearing none. All those in favor of drafting a letter to the Historic District Commission signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. All right. Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Okay. I printed these out for you because I didn't know if you had them. I did attend that historic district meeting and I'll just go through the project updates, but this is one of their projects that they were working on. I think that they are very committed to doing what's right for the town. And I happened to notice, I went through it page by page with them with the things that I thought were great and there's a lot of great things in there. I only asked if they wanted to mention that we were close in proximity to transportation as far as Shoreline Ace and Amtrak. And I know it's in Saybrook, but it does make sense for someone who has a business that anyone could get to their business or come to a meeting at their business if they were taking the training from New York or Boston. And the other thing that I mentioned Just one other thing. I don't remember what it is at the moment. It wasn't anything big, but signage. They would love to coordinate the sign that when you come off exit 70 and we have that beautiful sign, welcome to O-Line. They'd certainly like to replicate that and have it over at exit 71 as well. They want to really brand it. And I don't know if any of you have come off exit eight. when you come into Chester off exit eight on nine, the most beautiful sign welcoming you with directional signs to all of their events. And it's not, they're not metal signs. They're very nicely done. So that's one of the things that they're working on so that people can find their way in Old Lyme. Payne's Park, the playground is installed and is open. John Bugbee was happy to report the other day that he went by at like 730 in the morning and there was someone who lives nearby as he was waiting, playing on the playground. Good to see the Coldline Rowing Association and asked for a dock extension, which they could not repair this year to be purchased. through the beautification fund. And that arrived yesterday at Haines Park. It is not yet in the water, but that was approved through Parks and Rec Commission on their beautification fund. Solar, our solar project is heading away. I signed the engagement letter that day that we had our virtual meeting. There, supposed to have a draft of the RFP for town review tomorrow. Once we sign off, they'd like it's back by Thursday. So we'll have people reviewing it. I'm happy to send it to both of you when I see it. Then there's an RFP release that would hopefully be Friday of this week. A site visit on May 27th. I'm happy to send you this email. And then bids would be due on June 10th. Award recommendation from them on June 12th. Contract signed on June 19th. Now, what they also followed up with today is their initial review points out that we will be producing many more kilowatt hours than what we, the town, needs in our building. And they said instead of utilizing that to another outside area, like Winchester has a net metering situation in Fulton, New London by some of their thing. They suggested that perhaps region 18 would be interested in partnering with us because really this type of RFP grant can only be done with a school or a town. So they asked, I briefly spoke with Ian today. We're going to set up a meeting so he can ask some questions and see if that's filled. And they still think that we would have access even with them, but they haven't seen the bills yet from them. So that's where we are with that project. The gazebo down at White Sand Beach is in good shape. They were supposed to do the third pour today. I wasn't down there. And Eric, I passed him quickly. He didn't mention it, but I think that was supposed to happen today. Then there's some books that are supposed to be for the, and I know it's not the right term, but there's supposed to be some hooks to put the roof on. Those were on back order, but they're pretty sure they'll be here shortly. And then once the cement is dry, roof goes on, and we should be open for business, except we probably have to get a few picnic tables, which we might have money on. Also, White Sand Beach put in two additional speed humps, one right near the beach, another one right at the center of the site. As you get down towards the beach. And they're higher, according to Ed and Eric, they are higher than the other speed bumps on the road. So you're not going fast on White Sand Beach Road. So that's that. And I appreciated that the White Sand Beach certified me that they were doing that. Do you have any other questions about any projects that...

Yeah, just the status for the waiver for the conflict of interest.

I will have that by midweek, according to legal.

Okay.

If whether or not we should sign it.

Right.

And I have not heard back. Okay. Anything else?

Okay, we move on to Selectman's general discussion. Is there anything that you would like to generally discuss?

Meeting is tonight, town hall. I hope you'll both be here. And for the annual town budget. Anything on your mind?

No?

Okay. So hearing none, can I get a motion to adjourn?

Make a motion to adjourn. I will second.

At 6.03. Okay. All those in favor of adjourning at 6.03? Aye. Aye. Motion passes.