To the Editor:
“Findings given in Old Lyme WPCA Probe,” The Day-October 22, 2015, accurately summarizes the preliminary findings of the outside attorney, Robert DeCrescenzo, hired by the Old Lyme Board of Finance to determine whether cost overruns in the WPCA’s waste-water study for the DEEP were the result of improper conduct.
I attended the Board of Finance meeting and listened to attorney DeCrescenzo outline his conclusions and recommendations and find them exceedingly logical and reasonable. He recommended the formation of a project-specific oversight committee consisting of members from the Board of Selectmen office, the Board of Finance and the WPCA, in part because he found a “not uncommon, lack of institutional communication.” The attorney also made clear what he did not find: “I found no evidence that anyone working on the project was not working in the best interest of the Town of Old Lyme. They were all working to complete the goal, which was to finish the waste-water management study.”
The attorney’s sensible recommendations to appoint a three-member oversight committee and the appointment of a town employee as project manager should be immediately endorsed by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance. Let’s move forward in a collaborative manner in order to complete the waste-water management study and identify solutions consistent with DEEP requirements while balancing the best long term interests of all Old Lyme residents.
Sincerely,
Jeff Hartmann,
Old Lyme