Old Lyme Town Meeting to be held Monday
Old Lyme — A meeting will be held Monday for townspeople to vote on costs for the Sound View Improvements project, excess costs for resident state troopers and the acceptance of Queen Anne Court as a town road.
The special town meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Auditorium.
Residents first will vote on spending up to $877,000 for costs associated with the construction of the Sound View Improvements project.
The town has received approval for a federal grant, administered through the state Department of Transportation, that would cover 80 percent of the expenses for the Hartford Avenue streetscape renovations.
The estimated total cost for the construction phase of the project is $812,000.
But the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen approved an additional amount as a "buffer" for the project, in case the construction bids come in higher than anticipated, First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder said.
The town ultimately would be responsible for between $162,400 and $175,400 of the costs, depending on the bids the town receives.
Reemsnyder said it is unlikely the bids would come in at the higher end.
Next, townspeople will vote on whether or not to accept Queen Anne Court as a town road.
The acceptance would be under "the condition that all cracks in the road be repaired to the satisfaction of the Town prior to the deed being filed," according to the meeting agenda.
Lastly, residents will vote on an item to approve up to $60,000 for excess costs of the state resident trooper department.
That would be offset by decreased costs for the municipal police budget, a department that is under budget by more than $60,000, Reemsnyder said.
The increased costs for the resident trooper department are caused by several factors.
For one, the state had increased the percentage the town pays for fringe benefits for the resident trooper — from 70 to 85 percent — after the town budget already was approved for fiscal year 2016, Reemsnyder said.
In addition, the town anticipates more expenses to cover the cost of a second resident trooper for the summer, she said.
The approval at the meeting would be for the period between Memorial Day through the end of June in fiscal year 2016.
The town had hired an extra trooper for the summer, after Officers Thomas Heinssen and Martin Lane, two of the town's six police officers, resigned.
The resignations of the two officers are the reason the municipal police budget is estimated to be about $90,000 under budget, Reemsnyder said.
In addition, the town had some overtime expenses for the resident trooper and DUI checks.
The DUI checks would be partially reimbursable through state grant, Reemsnyder said.
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