Kerr, Nosal run for Old Lyme Board of Selectmen

Old Lyme — Incumbent Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal, a Democrat, and Christopher W. Kerr, a Republican who serves on the Board of Finance and Planning Commission, are running for the Board of Selectmen in the Nov. 7 election.

In Old Lyme, the losing candidate in the first selectman race automatically becomes a candidate for the Board of Selectmen, so the top two vote-getters among the two selectmen candidates and the unsuccessful first selectwoman candidate will earn selectmen seats. Incumbent First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, a Democrat, and Judith Danenhower Read, a Republican, are vying for the first selectwoman position.

Both Kerr and Nosal identified addressing the town’s policing needs in the busy beach area as among the top priorities for next term, an issue that also played out at the Old Lyme candidates forum earlier this month.

Kerr, 49, who was born and raised in town and lived here for most of his life, has been serving on the Board of Finance and Planning Commission for more than 15 years and his mother is the town’s tax collector. He owns a real estate appraisal firm and a small excavation company, and has been a member of the Old Lyme Fire Department since he was 15 years old.

Kerr said a priority for the next term will be addressing the police issues in town. He also said it’s not the time to consider partnering with East Lyme, which established an independent police department in July. He said it’s important for Old Lyme to retain control over financial costs and have local officers who have the chance of living in the town where they work, which he said is better for the community.

“I don’t like farming our services out,” he said. “I think Old Lyme can be Old Lyme. We don’t need to partner up with anybody.”

To address coverage issues, he said the town could use additional part-time officers at Sound View. Noting that the town went more than a year with two of its six officer positions unfilled, he said it’s important to ensure the police department is fully staffed.

He also said the town should focus on funding projects that are priorities, rather than be driven by the grants that are available.

Additionally, he said it’s important for the town to work with property owners in blighted areas — for example, owners of abandoned buildings on Hartford Avenue — who want to improve and upgrade their properties. This would in turn boost the town’s tax base and quality of life for town residents.

“If someone built a nice restaurant, it’s going to benefit the whole town,” he said, as an example.

He recommended property owners and town officials sit down to work on solutions and see what is feasible.

Nosal, 60, has been a selectwoman since 2011. Nosal, who is married with three daughters, is a substitute teacher for Lyme-Old Lyme Schools and volunteers for the Old Lyme Historical Society, Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library and Christ the King Church.

For Nosal, a top priority for the next term is completing the Sound View Improvements project for which the town received 80 percent reimbursement from a federal grant. The construction cost to the town is about $182,220.

“I think the project is an economic improvement project for the town and certainly something that the community has desired and asked for, for ages,” she said. “It will hopefully maintain businesses, bring businesses to town, allow the usual seasonality of that area to be expanded to early spring, late fall, and bring bicyclists to town, particularly once the DOT completes their planned improvements of Route 156 and their bike lane.”

Nosal said a priority of last term was for Reemsnyder and bipartisan legislative and grassroots teams to work to defeat a proposal for highspeed rail through Old Lyme and the region. She said she supports Reemsnyder’s plan to advocate for a requirement that chief elected officials of towns and Councils of Governments be formally notified of major transportation plans and require hearings to be held in the affected areas.

For the police issue, Nosal said that the town has hired additional state trooper help for weekends at Sound View in the past. She said the town had run ads for certified full-time police officers and part-time officers, but didn’t receive enough interest. The Board of Selectmen also was looking into recommendations from state police Troop F, including the recommendation to potentially add a second trooper. Nosal said it wasn’t until the past summer that the town had the opportunity to hire two retired police officers from Old Saybrook to fill the two vacant positions.

Nosal also said the town needs to “continue to take a bipartisan leadership role in thoughtfully analyzing our policing needs in town to meet our summer challenges.” She said options include considering the viability of merging with East Lyme’s police department or more state trooper support. She said a committee will be formed to analyze the pros and cons of the options and public meetings will be held to evaluate the options and any decision would go to a town meeting.

In addition to candidates for first selectwoman, Board of Selectmen and Board of Education, the ballot also includes candidates for additional positions and boards.

Republican Vicki Urbowicz (cross-endorsed) is running for town clerk; Bennett Bernblum, a Democrat, and Harold P. Garvin III, a Republican, are running for the Board of Finance; and Democrats Adam S. Burrows and Anna S. Reiter and Republican J. David Kelsey are running for alternate positions on the Board of Finance; and Democrat George Finley and Republican Timothy Griswold are running for Board of Assessment Appeals.

Democrat Robert McCarthy is running for a five-year term to the Planning Commission beginning in 2017 and Democrat Jonathan Curtis is running for a five-year term to the Planning Commission beginning in 2018; Alan W. Todd, unaffiliated (endorsed by Democrats and Republicans), is running for a fiveyear term to the Zoning Commission beginning in 2017, and Paul Orzel, unaffiliated (endorsed by Democrats and Republicans), is running for a five-year term to the Zoning Commission beginning in 2018; Republican Dan Montano is running for a five-year term to the Zoning Board of Appeals; and Democrats Stephanie Mickle and Marisa Hartmann are running as alternate members of the Zoning Board of Appeals.