Jim Lampos (D): Candidate (Incumbent) for Old Lyme Selectman

Biography:

Second Selectman Jim Lampos has served on the Planning Commission, the Community Connectivity Grant Committee, and the Sound View Improvements Committee. Owner/operator of Groton Pizza Palace and a professional musician, he co-authored four books on Old Lyme history with his wife Michaelle Pearson. He graduated from Brandeis University summa cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  He was a Kaplan Fellow at the New School for Social Research where he received his M.A. in policy analysis and is a member of Pi Alpha Alpha, the global honor society for public affairs and administration.

1) Why are you running for the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen, and what do you see as the most important challenges facing the town in the next two years?

I am running for re-election to the Board of Selectmen to continue the important work of the town. Our town is fortunate, we are not distressed by serious social and economic ills, but still there are long-standing challenges that need to be addressed along with the ordinary tasks of daily governance. 

Over the past two years I have focused on improving our resiliency to storms and natural disasters and obtained a grant to help us do so;  done the hard work of insuring a fair process on the question of sewers at the shoreline;  written a grant proposal currently under consideration to secure funding for sidewalks connecting Halls Road to Lyme Street; drafted, helped develop and enact an ordinance to improve safety at our public beach; worked cooperatively to help set a historically low mill rate by encouraging the transfer of excess surplus to tax relief; proposed a committee to address Road and Public Safety, which was formed and is now actively engaged with issues such as speeding; and taken on several other issues too numerous to detail in this forum. 

I have always sought to rise above partisan rancor and division to seek the best solution even when it is politically difficult. Criticism is easy, solutions are hard. I am excited to continue this work as our town is filled with extraordinarily talented people of good judgement and good will who step up to volunteer and do the important and necessary work in making a positive contribution to our community. 

I have faith in our town, and our ability to resolve our own issues.  Our town meeting form of government is our strength—even when it gets raucous, or maybe especially when it does—we have been successfully governing ourselves for 360 years and I trust that we will continue to do so.

2) The pace and scale of development in Old Lyme has been a key issue in town, from the prospect of apartments on Halls Road to the implications that sewers might have for the shoreline gateway. How would you describe Old Lyme as it is today, and what is your vision for the town’s future?

Old Lyme is one of the most beautiful places on earth and it is our special obligation to preserve our natural and cultural resources. Development has always been a controversial subject; most everyone enjoys living here, cherishes our schools and cultural institutions as well as open spaces and beaches, and wants to keep Old Lyme “as is” as much as possible. I do too. Our fear is that development will threaten our unique role as “a breath of fresh air” on the shore and turn Old Lyme into another Anytown USA with sprawl, unchecked over-development, traffic, box stores and oversize condo projects.  

Our current zoning encourages clear cutting woodlands for large housing developments and commercial enterprises that threaten the “neighborhood commercial” character of our state roads. Our seniors looking to downsize and our young families just starting out find it difficult to find appropriate housing. We need to face the pressure of development with creativity and dialogue.  

While the Halls Road proposal was misrepresented by some, it did contain flaws that were of legitimate concern. In the end, the voice of the people was heard and heeded, and our democratic process worked as it should. We need to harness those same tools—the power of dialogue in town meeting—to devise strategies that will help us move forward with solutions that are more in harmony with the needs of our residents. Our communications with the public must be more clear and robust, and our boards, commissions and committees need to talk to each other more to facilitate that process.

3) How important are shoreline environmental issues—such as flooding, beach erosion, water quality, and climate change—to Old Lyme’s long-term vitality, and what steps would you take to address them?

Environmental issues are paramount in Old Lyme. Our nature is extraordinary: most of us can see the Milky Way and distant galaxies when we step into our backyards and look up at the stars. Our beaches are the cleanest on the coast with charming neighborhoods along the shore.  Our hiking trails are inviting and inspiring, offering recreation and meditation in nature thanks to our hard-working volunteers who maintain the trails and seek grants for new acquisitions. But all of this is fragile and threatened by forces both natural and human made.  

I have been concerned about storm surge threats to our shoreline and creekside flooding inland, as well as wildfires, and have been hard at work writing grant proposals to fund studies that will help us address these issues and develop a rigorous strategy for the mitigation of these hazards. I have already successfully obtained one, funded by UCONN/Sea Grant/Long Island Sound programs, which will pay 100% of the cost for a study of our resiliency issues and make recommendations to prioritize our efforts to address the greatest threats. I will continue working on obtaining and administering these grants, and also focus on protecting our marshlands which are critically important for our ability to withstand storms and sea level rise and also provide a vital habitat for our wildlife.  

In the next term I also want to address water quality at Haines Park and restore safe swimming there, and conduct an environmental assessment of a town owned property on the Black Hall River that had once been used as a dump, and restore this beautiful parcel to a wildlife habitat.  

Additionally, the more aware and appreciative we are of our natural world, our inspiring history and our vibrant civic culture, the more support we will have for its preservation and prosperity.   As such, I have worked to celebrate that which makes Old Lyme unique and invaluable. I wrote and obtained a grant for educational signage at the Solstice Stone in Sound View to help explain our unique geology and history, and given several lectures and tours throughout town.

4) What would you do to ensure that rising property taxes don’t make Old Lyme unaffordable for residents?

A very important accomplishment by our administration, initiated by First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker, is the rigorous budget process that we conduct through a series of weekly, publicly held hearings beginning in late December and continuing through January to develop our yearly budget. Every single line item is reviewed with commission chairs and department heads to evaluate and justify all expenditures and cut the cost of government as much as we possibly can. As a result, our finances are in the best shape they have ever been.  

Our bond rating is superlative, which allows us to borrow at the most favorable rates for necessary capital projects such as the Senior Center, and our sound practices allow us to fund needed improvements like the new Emergency Operations Center and upgrades to town facilities. 

I have encouraged the use of excess surplus, that is, the surplus above and beyond that which is necessary to maintain our AAA bond ratings, to be applied to tax relief. This year, I called for $1.3 million to be shifted to tax relief, though Republicans on the board wanted far less. In the end a good compromise was struck and $800,000 was used to reduce taxes, giving us a mill rate of 16.23, our lowest tax rate in 34 years.

Still, our historically low mill rate is cold comfort to those who were hit with high assessments in their state mandated property re-evaluation this past year. We’ve seen property values skyrocket over the past few years, particularly along the shore. While positive home equity is usually seen as a good thing, when it triggers a property tax hike for those on fixed incomes, particularly our elder population, it can provide hardship instead. The state of Connecticut has an elder tax relief program called “Circuit Breaker” that provides credits for homeowners over 65 on a fixed income. We should make sure all those who qualify know about this program, help them apply if necessary, and identify ways we can further help as a town.