OLSBOG Meeting
Tuesday April 18, 2022 at 6:30 PM
Virtual Meeting via Zoom
Board of Governors and Association Officers in attendance: Bryan Even (BE), Al Roy (AR), Norm Yester (NY), Tom Annulli (TA), MaryKate Reynolds (MKR), John Mandracchia (JM), Lou Riccelli (LR), and Kathi Stickley (KS)
Absent: , Joanne Gilland (JG),
Member Guests: unknown
Call to Order 6:33 PM
• Approval of BOG meeting minutes 01/20/23 TA/JM
• July 4th Funding-
o Community feedback regarding July 4 2022 festivities was a success
o Motion was made to approve $2,225.00-BE
o BOG voted unanimously to approve funds for July 4, 2023 OLS celebration.
TA-Sheffield Brook Update
• Reclamation project several years to prevent overflow from occurring at the end of Sea Spray Road. Previously, federal grants were approved to support the project to address this issue at a cost of $1mm.
KS inquired as to whether or not if there was any recourse with the prior construction company. TA and BE shared that based on advice of counsel that we would not be successful as it would result in considerable legal action and substantial delays in moving forward with achieving solutions to mitigate the water problems.
Old Colony has started an Initiative with a company, Ramble, out of Hartford, put together a 17 page proposal that includes three phases:
• Site Recon – $1,750
• Information Review – $6,750
• Remedy option identification $9,750
Old Colony has asked OLS to share in the costs of this work to mitigate this severe water problem. At this point, we are evaluating this proposal and will plan on a possible vote in the next few months. The fees for Sheffield Brook are. Task 1 site reconnaissance $1.750. Task 2. Information review and remedy option development $6,750. Task 3 identification of grant funding opportunity $1,250. Total amount $9,750. They would like us to pay, as we have in the past, 50% or $4,875.
Boat Storage
LR – prepared an estimate to build one three tier system with 16ft boat racks for end of Billow for $950.00 and one two tier 16 ft boat rack at the end of Sea Spray Road for $825.00.
Boat Registration
LR-National Boat Safety week is 5/22-5/28. Reinforced the importance of boat owners (including paddle boards and kayaks) to register their boats on the OLS website and place an identifying sticker on them. Average cost of Coast Guard to search for a “missing” owner of a stray board or kayak is $65,000. Would like to see an email blast go out encouraging residents to register their boats and provide them with an “If Found” sticker. Registration with the association will keep track of the owners and the “If Found” stickers could [“help save lives, recover missing property, and reduce the time, effort and resources expended on non-emergency search and rescues.” Link to DEEP website with information on Boating Safety]
Signage Update
JM – Stop Signs: Canty Lane and Sea Spray Lane proposal is forthcoming on street sign replacements. Saltaire signs are faded – will come back to BOG with a proposal for the stop sign replacement and street sign replacements.
Cross Walks : Shout out to Elizabeth Eagan who was able to get Tom Griswold to review our crosswalk request over 156 . He will review the request and then move it forward to DOT.
Bench signage is not consistent – three of the four are the same – we would need one beach rule sign for the bench. Also, parking signs are not at each bench – not sure if we would like to have those added where it is not there.
Safety
BE – Guard work details and staffing plan is being worked on with TA and JM and is forthcoming.
Finance
BE – Please make sure that any proposals requiring funding should be submitted by June 1st.
TA/JM – Wind River Environmental is coming to cleaning out our storm drains. 15 storm drains all south of Shore Road.
Association fees are paid up with exception of few properties that have been tied up with estate settlements.
Website Update
MKR – Content review is completed and recommendations are being prepared. Security/Authentication is being considered and evaluated.
AR – asked if sites of other beach associations have been evaluated. Board likes the idea of certain portions of the website locked down for residents only.
Also the mail distribution list of OLSBA(email list) and WPCA (Mail Chimp) is different and should consider using one system.
JC – shared that the Plug-in has been installed to help with security – which would give us the ability to set authentication. We would need to consider who will be managing the email addresses as well as being the contact person for user password reset requests.
Social Media – OLSBA does have a Facebook page and Instagram. Maggie C. will take the lead on managing content – recent posts include T-shirt sales.
KS – We have updated our email address to be OLSBA1947@gmail.com on our website, thank you John C! Residents can use this email to communicate with the BOG.
Sewer Update
BE- March 10th DEEP meeting -DEEP has identified $17M of funding which would be 50% of eligible funding. Forgivable loan is being considered which can be challenging. DEEP is continuing to move forward and develop a path forward; cost sharing agreement being discussed and standardizing the definition of EDU in terms of how we are going to calculate costs.
Town of Old Lyme is not officially in the cost sharing agreement.
We are locked down on costs and will not spend any money until the project is more defined.
Closed out our interim funding agreement. If funding is not there it will be paused.
Any interest by the Town to take more of a lead role? Other parts of the Town such as Rogers Lake are exposed to the same problem.
WPCA Update
AR-The last quarterly WPCA meeting took place on November 17, 2022, and we later elected to cancel the meeting scheduled for February 21. Until recently, there’s been little directly-related WPCA activity to discuss. Information and updates related to exploration of OLSBA’s options regarding continued obligations to the sewer project have been discussed at BOG meetings in recent months and shared in updates posted on the website. WPCA Updates
• Three-beach and Town alliance – You may have seen reference to the title that was adopted for the four entities involved with the sewer project. The title Old Lyme Shared Sewer Project Alliance (“OLSSPA” or “Alliance”) is being used to identify the OLSBA, MBA, OCBCA, and the Town of Old Lyme as the four-entity group identified in the Cost Sharing Agreement (“CSA”).
• OLSBA CWF Loan Extension – Our loan agreement was successfully extended last month to March of 2024, which forestalls any required P&I payment due until that time.
• Shared Infrastructure CWF Loan Amendment – An amendment to increase the authorized funding amount in this loan is being pursued by OCBCA, who by written agreements, is the lead applicant for this loan for and on behalf of the Alliance. This increase will facilitate payments for previously accumulated project costs authorized by DEEP, and creates a funding budget for future anticipated costs for the design phase.
• The next quarterly WPCA Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 23, at 7:30 PM. We will provide updated WPCA financials at this meeting along with any available project updates.
Spring Meeting Preparation
• Topics:
o Beach Actions
o Financial Review
o Sewer Project Update
o Nomination Committee – President Term – annual appointments
o Beach Update
o Guard – Security – Police participation to talk about theft, vandalism and safety
Residents Comments
Jay Moynihan – asked about OLS expenditures. Board responded that information can be made available to the association but had concerns about public access.
Concerns of over the how the overall projects costs are being calculated including the estimation of change orders. May need some degree of uniformity across each of the beaches, including the Town of Old Lyme.
Mike Bernacki – expressed his gratitude that he was able to use his home for the first time over the past winter. Shout out to Tom A on his leadership and responsiveness that he demonstrated over the winter months when Sea Spray Road experienced rising water.
Meeting is adjourned 8:16 meeting LR/ MK
Minutes submitted by Joanne Gilland, Secretary