Work on $1.5M addition to Old Lyme emergency center set for spring
Old Lyme — Town officials say that as the town grows, so do its needs for emergency services.
So on April 1, construction is slated to begin on a $1.5 million addition to the emergency operations center, according to David Roberge, the town's emergency operations manager.
According to documents Roberge shared with the town last month, about $913,000 of funding will come from outside sources, including $708,000 from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker said the town already has the money so it won't be affected by President Donald Trump's recent federal spending cuts.
The rest, about $609,000, comes from the town's reserves, Shoemaker said, adding that it won't affect the town's annual budget.
The town has grown since the original center, with 'two small rooms,' was built, Shoemaker said Tuesday.
She said helping people during a disaster takes more people than the current center can accommodate. Just the task of reaching out to seniors during these crises takes a 'massive outreach.'
Shoemaker said the larger center will provide space for emergency management training and can work as a secondary town hall if the main one has to shut down for an emergency.
'I can take all 27 Town Hall employees and move them to the emergency center, where they'll have space to work,' Shoemaker said.
In his presentation, Roberge said the center has been used numerous times since it was built: during flooding in 2010, Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, the October 2011 snowstorm, a heat wave in 2012, a blizzard in 2013, the COVID-19 pandemic, and 'numerous annual state emergency planning and preparedness initiative exercises.'
Roberge wrote that building an addition rather than renting a new space saves the town money because equipping a rental space with backup generators, communication towers and structural upgrades would be expensive.
The existing building, built in 1992, has a 175-square-foot conference room and a communications room of the same size. The 1,500-square-foot expansion adds a conference room, call room and operations room.
j.lakowsky@theday.com
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