Old Lyme — Democratic First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder and Republican town treasurer and former first selectman Timothy Griswold will face off for a fifth time for the town’s top executive position this November. 

It's a familiar rematch between two longtime public servants in a race that has sparked conversation about where the town is going and whose approach to governing will be best moving forward.

While Reemsnyder has touted a record of proactive thinking and responsible management practices while keeping in mind the big picture of the town and how to best keep it thriving, Griswold said he is looking to return to his model of scaled-back municipal spending, further “protecting our way of life here” and “responsibly” planning for economic development.

Reemsnyder, 65, has served as first selectwoman since 2011, when she unseated Griswold from the top executive position, which he had held for 14 years. Reemsnyder first became a member on the Board of Selectmen in 2003 after she ran for first selectman that year, without previously having served on any boards or commissions. She then ran for the position again in 2005 and in 2007, taking a break in 2009, before finally being elected in 2011.

Griswold, 74, the current town treasurer, has lived here since 1972, serving in town government since 1982. He was elected to the Board of Finance before winning the first selectman race in 1997. He did not immediately step up to vie for the top seat this year, missing the Republican endorsement in late July.

However, he decided to run as a petitioning candidate days after Gov. Ned Lamont pressured Reemsnyder to resign as chair of the Connecticut Port Authority board following news reports that the authority paid her daughter $3,000 for six photographs.

After collecting more than 180 signatures in early August, Griswold secured his place as a Republican on the ballot.

He said Tuesday his decision to run had less to do with Reemsnyder’s scandal and more to do with what he described as a “sense of duty” to the town and his party, as well as democracy in general.

“When it was apparent that there was no one from the Republican party on the ballot, I said, ‘That means we give a free ticket to the incumbent?’ I said, ‘No,’” Griswold said. “It was not my intention to run for first selectman, had someone qualified step up. But I said, ‘I can’t let this be.’”

Griswold said the port authority scandal was a “blemish” on Reemsnyder’s reputation, tarnishing residents' trust and “it hurts her credibility.” However, he added, “Because not a whole lot is known about the situation, it’s not bad news in town, per se.”

Reemsnyder had served as vice chair of the port authority board since its inception in 2014 until she was elected its chair in June; she resigned from that position in July. She also served as the authority's Finance Committee chair, as well as co-chair of its negotiating committee, which led recent State Pier talks.

She acknowledged she should have spoken up and not allowed port authority to buy photographs from her daughter, but she maintains that she abided by the state ethics code, recusing herself from any decisions or conversations involving the photos. The authority board's chairman at the time, Scott Bates, approved spending for the photos.

“I can’t undo the action," she said. "But after so many years, what else have I really done that someone would question ethically and where can they really show that there’s something that unethical happened?”

Reemsnyder also serves on the Connecticut Council of Municipalities, as well as on the operations and underwriting committee of Connecticut Interlocal Risk Management Agency. She also served as the chairwoman of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments from early 2016 to late 2018.

She argued that her dedication to running an organized and efficient town government, as well as her connections to regional and state leaders, have helped the town stay up-to-date with state requirements and have helped her opportunize on available grants to help pay for infrastructure projects. She detailed efforts to start funding more than $600,000 toward annual infrastructure improvements on the town's 60 miles of roads, avoiding the need to bond for those projects and responsibly managing and saving money in the long run.

Chief among her accomplishments, Reemsnyder lists that she's helped oversee the first phase of streetscape improvements on Hartford Avenue in Sound View, for which voters backed funding in 2016; the completion of a boathouse on Rogers Lake in 2017 after the town was awarded a $478,000 grant in 2013 and which residents approved spending $405,000 toward the project in 2014; the $600,000 acquisition of the 300-acre McCulloch open space property, which voters approved in May; and helping with the choosing of a new trash and recycling pickup provider after the town's longtime vendor announced it would cease its services, finding added savings of around $40,000 annually through the new deal. She said she will continue keeping an eye toward securing grants for ongoing improvement plans for Halls Road.

Reemsnyder also noted how she helped protect Old Lyme when the Federal Railroad Administration proposed running a high-speed rail bypass through the town in 2016 and 2017, working diligently with federal, state and local officials to ensure rail plans were changed.

Since coming into office, she has been dedicated to upkeeping town maintenance, hiring a facilities manager to help with that, and thoroughly addressing many "behind-the-scenes" issues that don't get press or attention. She has updated the town's stormwater management and water testing, as well as complying with OSHA requirements. She said in July, because of her persistence in that area, the town was ranked within the "top two in the state" for a recent OSHA inspection.

Reemsnyder said that while Griswold touts being fiscally conservative, she is as well, but finds additional expenditures for things such as Town Hall landscaping or outsourcing cleaning maintenance for the Hains Park bathrooms, as valuable investments.

Griswold, a lifelong Republican, also has served on the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority, a quasi-public agency that provides single-stream recycling and trash disposal for cities and towns, and previously was a president of the Connecticut Council of Municipalities while first selectman. He is most remembered for his extreme fiscal prudence while in office, spending on town projects only when necessary, he said.

Griswold explained that his nearly 40 years of good governing, as well as his reputation for fiscal responsibility, would continue if he is re-elected.

A traditionalist in many ways, Griswold said he would like to see even less spending on town projects that seem “more like wants than needs,” as well as better planning on necessary projects. He said he would also like to keep decisions about the town’s future within town control, noting he was skeptical of the Yale Urban Design workshop, which helped officials visualize plans for Halls Road, as well as contracted assistance from the Connecticut Economic Resource Center.

Griswold questioned the ways that such outside counsel could adversely affect the nature of Old Lyme, which he said is “residential” and “very family-oriented,” a “one-of-a-kind gem” and “an oasis” — something he is looking to preserve.

“I think we have good, capable people. We can control our destiny within and then use good guidance once we set the course,” he said. “We want to make decisions for ourselves, we don’t want to rely on too many outside people.”

That isn’t to say that he wouldn’t pursue town projects when needed, he said, citing his support for remodeling Town Hall when he was first selectman, installing granite curbing along Lyme Street and supporting the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library expansion.

“The Town Woods Park, the soccer fields, the field house ... those would be the sort of things that are important and used by a lot of townspeople. I think that’s the sort of thing I’d be more inclined to do than something less worthy, because everything is going to cost money and we have to be vigilant about our spending,” he said.

“We have a sense of duty to replace a firetruck, fix a building ... but we have to be careful not to just say, ‘Well, that would be nice' and spend $100,000 on that," he said. "It will need to go through a test to really say, 'Will that really be a benefit to the town?'”

While speaking with The Day this week, Griswold highlighted many town issues that have divided residents over the last couple years, including the HOPE affordable-housing project proposed on Neck Road near Interstate 95 Exit 71, which he said he was against because of the location. The developers withdrew their application in August. He also cited the Hains Park Boathouse, which he said was not planned well; because of higher-than-expected costs, the town was forced to cut bathrooms from its design. He said he believes visions for Halls Road are too grandiose for "local palates." With regards to the recent Sound View area sewer referendum and financing formula for that project, he said he would be dedicated to helping find an equitable solution for future ratepayers if he were elected.

Election Day is Nov. 5. Sample ballots can be found here.

m.biekert@theday.com