This morning I had the pleasure of hosting guests at Town Hall for the raising of the Donate Life flag. This flag will fly outside Town Hall for the month of April to make residents aware of the lifesaving benefits of organ and tissue donation. At our presentation this morning we heard how organ donation has provided members of our community the opportunity to live a longer life. If you are interested in becoming a registered donor, please visit the Donate Life website. Many thanks to Dr. Richard Jones for making me aware of this rewarding program. 

The Board of Finance completed the budget process this week. They are now preparing for the Budget Hearing on April 15^th. This will be held at the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School at 6:30 PM. A Town Meeting will follow the budget hearing at 7:30 PM. I will provide more details on these meetings next week.

Yesterday, Resident State Trooper Matt Weber, Officer Stephen Hackett, Public Works Director Ed Adanti and I travelled to Norwich to attend the pre-construction meeting for the Route 156 milling and paving project. Milling will begin on April 9^th with paving scheduled to follow and our hope is it will be completed by Memorial Day. The plan is to do the south side of Route 156 from Halls Road to Portland Avenue and then complete the process on the north side. We have notified Region 18, so that school buses will be aware of possible delays.

We are fully aware of the shoreline flooding that took place yesterday. Our Public Works crew dug out the “crib”  on Wednesday afternoon in preparation of the storm but Mother Nature still came on stronger than expected. Flooding in Sound View, Miami Beach, and Hawk’s Nest was extensive. As soon as the winds died down and the tide began to subside on Thursday, Public Works returned to dig out the “crib” once again before the waters began to subside. We are awaiting our DEEP permit and an estimate to repair and strengthen the crib for the 2024 summer season after the winter storms took their toll on the east side.

The elevator at Town Hall will be serviced next Friday, April 12^th  so will consequently unavailable. If you need services from any department that you can not access, please call that department and our staff will come to you. 

Also, I'd like to take a minute to remind you that the Municipal Valuation Services data collectors are still out in the field, taking photos and working on gathering data for the 2024 Reevaluation.  Please check the Assessors website page for up-to-date locations and reevaluation information.

I hope that you are all preparing to watch the partial eclipse on Monday, April 8^th. The total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The best viewing time in Old Lyme is slated for 3:58 PM. The next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous United States will be on August 23, 2044.

All my best, 
Martha