Thursday , May  6th, 2021 – 7:00pm

BOG in attendance: 

  • Matt Merritt (MM), Bryan Even (BE), MaryKate Reynolds (MKR), Tom Annulli (TA) arr. 7:10 pm, Norm Yester (NY), Joe Halloran (JH), Joanne Gilland (JG), Al Roy (AR)
  • Missing: Cliff Winkel (CW)
  • Guests: plus 32 OLSBA Members incl BOG members via Zoom

Matt Merritt – President OLSBA Call to Order 7:02 PM

BE/NY-Approval of minutes of April 5th, 2021 meeting

Treasurer’s Report

NY-As of May 5, small amount in receivables.  Small liability from Buy a brick campaign.  Financially in good shape.  5 association members owe dues and actively collecting.

WPCA Update/Website

JH-WPCA recent meeting minutes have been posted on website.  Shared infrastructure update- pre-bid meeting; 9 contractors expressed preliminary interest; bid opening and review practice at the end of this month; ready to apply for construction stage of the Clean Water Funds.  Working with Amtrak and DEEP; hopefully soon be able to go out to bid; apply for OLS portion of Clean Water Fund; 6 easements required for road construction and 2 of the 6 have been signed.  We are into the project for about a million dollars already.

Update on the continued improvements to WPCA website- Al Roy and John Cunningham have been improving structure of the website.  They have done a remarkable job on posting minutes and historical documents.

BE– Interested in past history and qualifications of potential bidders

MM– Transparency in minutes and posting has dramatically improved the communication of the boards and the members.  Urges the board to go through the pages of the website especially the WPCA page

AR– Create a structure for all of our IT requirements so that we archive new documents as well as old documents.  In process of uploading documents and scanning documents so that the site is the central depository with storage in the cloud.  Available for generations to come.

MM– Potential to implementing mail chimp account; contacts have been transferred to Mail Chimp-useful for mass communication- to be used for meeting announcements, agendas, etc.  Useful for communication measurements.

Nominating Committee

MM– Vacancies 1 on WPCA and 2 vacancies (1 open and replacement of Pat Burns) in BOG board; TA should make a motion to bring on the individuals ; MM will reach out to person and ask to join us at the next BOG meeting

Beach Issues – cleaning, shells, boats, raft, ect. Spring Meeting (voting requirement) Miscellaneous

Tom Montano has started the beach cleaning; appears we will have extra sand; possibly that it won’t be sufficient to fill in septic systems; not the same quality that could be used to fill in septic systems; still will get a second opinion

Shells still a problem but does not appear as bad as last year; may not be possible to have a proper machine but will adapt the beach grooming to accommodate

Decisions to be made based on Gov. Lamont’s orders- orders lifted on May 19 and it may be possible to put the raft in.  MM wanted to hear a general feeling from the board. Board discussed the return to normalcy and the desire for the community to have the social gatherings including the July 4thfestivities, rec programs, movies, etc.

Julia Nixon- asked about the 4thof July activities- planning activities needs a lead time; pending the governor’s orders of lifting the restrictions due to Covid as of May 19th, we can go forward with the July 4thactivities

MM– discussed the next BOG meeting being in person; wants an in person meeting in June; OL schools auditorium not being rented; potential meeting on the beach; members on the beach and the board on the sea wall in front of Finley’s; necessity because of impending votes which need to be in person-ie speed tables, new board members, etc

Agreement that Spring meeting should be in person.  JH feels that there is a greater attendance for the WPCA meetings for the Zoom meetings.

MKR– feels that the hybrid approach is helpful for the BOG meetings and even WPCA.

Speed Tables-

BE-availability and cost of a demo; could not find a similar local and nearby speed table for members to drive over. There may be one able to be installed before the spring meeting at the cost of 5000 dollars; portable rubber one which will need installation (drilling, anchoring down, etc) may be 4000 dollars at the minimum and up to 6000 dollars.   [This cost is reflective of the demo speed table and not of the actual speed table(s).]

DeDe Derosa- asked if there is a quality video of how the table functions.

BE– feels that there are videos that can be viewed and perhaps inform the viewer of the pros and cons of the speed tables

NY– Wants the presentation to be factual and not opinionated.

Buy-a-Brick- MM wants the promotion of the program to be very active; MKR- wants promotion to be included in the notices for the meetings

Printed directory available at the Spring Meeting-

  • –  Street Sweeping
    • Streets have been swept
  • –  Street Signs
    • Tabled because budget is not known to repair gates

Resident Comments

Chat: Questions on quality of sand, look into the cost of insuring the raft, print minimum of 100 directories but suggestions to take an order of the directory, road sweeping still is necessary.

Comments: Kathy Olson 26 Saltaire:  Possiblility of using the church for the spring meeting?  Questioning the accuracy of the directory due to sales, etc.

Barbara Beal-  Christ the King church to book may be expensive

Motion to Adjourn: TA/JH 8:21 PM

 

Minutes respectfully submitted by Joanne Gilland, Secretary, Old Lyme Shores Beach Association