OLD LYME — The Old Lyme Annual Town Meeting was held Monday evening in the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School auditorium. Atty. Tom McGarry was elected as the Moderator.
Old Lyme Board of Finance Chairman David Kelsey presented the 2020-21 Annual Town Report and thanked Michelle Dickey for “another wonderful editing job.” The cover features photos of Tree Swallows during their annual murmuration.
Next, those assembled in the auditorium approved the sale of 11 Alpha Ave. (within Rogers Lake West Shores) to Roger Davis at a sale price of $10,500. Alpha Ave is a “paper” street, meaning it is not a passable road. The lot is a 0.48 acre parcel that abuts the Davis home property. The closing will likely occur in February.
Moving to a new agenda item, Frank Pappalardo then explained the Sound View Sidewalk Committee’s request for an appropriation of $50,000 to complete the sidewalk and transportation hub project. Pappalardo pointed out that, while there is a State grant of $400,000 for the project (income), the original project budget (spending) was also $400,000.
There have been about $46,000 of expenses that are not eligible for grant funding, which were paid using the project budget. If the $50,000 appropriation were approved (which it was subsequently), the Town could complete the transportation hub and be reimbursed almost in full by the unused State grant funds.
Finally, to her great surprise, the Citizen of the Year for 2021 was announced as Cheryl Poirier.
The item concerning using $115.000 of American Rescue Plan funding for COVID testing, distribution and communications was withdrawn from the agenda following the request by the American Rescue Plan Act Committee to do so following the announcement by the federal government of their funding of N-95 masks and COVID-19 self-tests.
A reception for Poirier was held in the Middle School cafeteria following the Town Meeting.