To the Editor:
On April 15, there was a Special Meeting of Lyme/Old Lyme residents to vote on the approval of an $880,000 increase in the cost to renovate the [Lymes’] Senior Center. The Senior Center has been closed for months, but the planning process has never been completed! Not only that, but a bond was also required by the Towns just to get the bids which was never acquired until January 2024. The bids (we don’t know if it was one or several bids) came back 88% over the planned additional $1 million that the Towns budgeted!
In the April 15 meeting it was shown what the proposed improvements are, but when asked what the improvements would look like if we just spent the $1 million budgeted, Alan Sheiness responded that the committee had not looked into that. Another question was asked how the Towns planned to pay for this increase, and incredulously Martha Shoemaker, our Town Selectwoman, said that it was being discussed.
So, our Town has been without a Senior Center for months during which planning had not been done properly and then its residents are supposed to pay for this 88% increase without knowing what the alternatives are and what the cost to the taxpayer is.
On April 24, a notice* was released by the Town of Old Lyme for the voters to approve a $6,143,541 bonding issue to pay for the Senior Center. So, we now know that the Senior Center will not cost $6,143,541 to renovate, but the interest on that debt as well. This must go down as one of the most poorly planned and expensive renovations in the history of our town. Vote No on May 7 and tell our elected officials to get their act together.
Sincerely,
Tom Grant,
Old Lyme.
Editor’s Notes: (i) Visit this link to read a Letter to the Editor countering several of the claims made in the letter above.
(ii) *Visit this link to read details of the Legal Notice regarding Old Lyme Special Town Meeting (on April 30) and Vote by Paper Ballots (on May 7) related to the authorization of the issue of bonds and notes in an amount not to exceed $6,143,541 to finance an existing appropriation for the planning, design and construction of an expanded joint Lyme/Old Lyme Senior Center. This Legal Notice was published April 24 by the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen.