Old Lyme's selectmen must do the right thing and immediately remove those members of the town's Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) whose very presence creates a conflict of interest if not a violation of state law. 

Members of the WPCA who reside in the chartered beach communities fall under the jurisdiction of their own WPCA created to deal with pollution control issues. The state has given these beach communities the same power and authority as a municipality when dealing with pollution issues; in essence they are a quasi-municipality within the boundaries of the town.

As we have seen in the past what is good for the beach communities is not always good for the town. A recent example is the town's reluctance to lease land to the beach community to install a pumping station to support their pollution control project. 

We would never allow a resident of Old Saybrook or East Lyme to serve on our WPCA so why would we allow a resident of a quasi-municipality with competing interest to serve?

William Folland

Old Lyme