The sun broke through the clouds Tuesday evening as the residents of Lyme gathered in front of the Lyme Public Library to dedicate the new library building and the renovated town hall. First Selectman, Ralph Eno thanked the donors, the building committee, and all those who supported the project.
Dan Hagan, Building Committee chair, echoed his message and specifically thanked the architect Bruce Tuthill for working closely with the town to create buildings that should serve the community for the next 30 years.
At the end of the dedication, a group accompanied Selectman Steve Mattson to town hall to ring the town bell. The bell dates back to the 1860s when the building was a Baptist church.
Most of the crowd stayed for the annual town meeting which was held for the first time in the new town hall meeting room. Previous town meetings had been held in the school gymnasium, the firehouse or the public hall.
A payment of $25,000 from the open space fund was approved to help purchase a parcel of land on Selden Road which will allow limited public water access. The remainder of the purchase price has been pledged by private donors.
The residents approved the 2015-2016 town budget of $10,065,892, an increase of 1.16%. Most of the increase was for capital expenditures on equipment needed by the town crew and for servicing the debt on the new building. After the meeting the Finance Committee set the new tax rate at 17.75 mills, up from the current rate of 17 mills.