Old Lyme officials debate additional sidewalk spending
Sep. 9—OLD LYME — Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal and the town finance director sparred with First Selectman Tim Griswold at this week's Board of Selectmen's meeting about bringing a request for additional funding for sidewalk improvements in the Sound View Beach area.
The state Department of Transportation in 2018 awarded a $400,000 grant for construction expenses for 5-feet-wide sidewalks on the western portion of Hartford Avenue and on Route 156 from the Old Lyme Police Station to Cross Lane. Phase one is in its final stages, as Martin Laviero Contractors Inc. addresses items on the project punch list.
The discussion came as the Community Connectivity Grant Committee is working to line up all state and local approvals for a new $104,050 bus stop to be constructed with grant funds not spent as part of the initial sidewalk project. The plan includes a shelter, pavement pad, sidewalk, bicycle repair station, bike rack and as many as 30 trees to provide a barrier for neighbors.
The contractor's $261,000 construction bid for phase one of the project, combined with about $19,000 in inspection services and just over $4,000 in contingency costs, left $115,690 in unspent funds to pay for phase two.
Nosal, a selectwoman and chair of the connectivity committee, asked selectmen at Tuesday's meeting to put into motion the process for getting voter approval to spend an additional $40,000 on expenses not eligible for grant reimbursement. The amount covers items such as design costs, legal fees and advertising.
Since the grant covers only construction costs associated with the project and leaves engineering and design work to municipalities, the town in the project's first phase approved $30,000 as part of its 2019-20 budget, and later appropriated an additional $10,000, to cover the costs.
"At the end of the day, we'll have approved an additional $80,000 and received $400,000 in improvements," Nosal said. "Pretty good deal."
But Griswold, an ex-officio member of the connectivity committee, said the project was approved at $400,000, and that's how much should be spent.
"To assume that these expenses will be absorbed by other town budgets is not really the proper way to go about it," he said.
Old Lyme Finance Director Nicole Stajduhar looked at it differently.
"I just think it's shortsighted to assume that the committee has to absorb non-eligible expenses when $400,000 is really for the total grant, not these other things," she said.
Stajduhar said the committee, the prior selectman's administration and her office at the time "didn't think" of adding non-eligible expenses to the original project amount when presenting it to voters.
In a recent plan to install sidewalks on Ferry Road, still in its formative stages, Stajduhar said they are budgeting for construction costs plus an additional amount for services like engineering design, legal fees and advertising.
"We didn't in this case," she said of the Sound View sidewalk plan. "And that's on us."
But she said that doesn't change the fact there are expenses not covered by the grant that have already been spent and need to be approved by voters. "Whether you wanted to do it then or want to do it at the end of the project, there is still going to be an additional appropriation that has to go to town meeting," she said.
Nosal told Griswold she has been asking for months to move forward the request for an additional appropriation.
"I will not go through the permitting process, through the town, and waste this committee's time if I get the sense from you that you will not support the amenities that we've provided to make this project attractive and safe," she said.
Griswold said the connectivity committee should come up with "a good presentation" to make to the finance board about exactly how much will be spent on the transit hub and why asking for additional town funds is a good idea.
He questioned if "some of the amenities" to be funded by the grant — particularly the barrier trees currently estimated at $23,200 — were necessary. He also said ideas and costs for the second phase of the project were still in flux as recently as the last committee meeting.
"We're getting closer at this point," he said. "I think we need to make sure that everyone agrees that whatever's being contemplated is a good idea and then move it forward through the process."
Nosal on Wednesday expressed relief that Griswold is willing to put the issue before the finance board, which she said he has not been willing to do until now.
She said the first selectman has signed every non-eligible invoice the committee has sent his way except for the most recent one.
"The problem has been that Tim has stated to the Board of Finance and in writing that he is not in favor of an appropriation," she said. "It's very clear we're going to need an appropriation and we've known that for some time. That's the issue."
