February 17, 2026 LPA Board Meeting 
Via Zoom 5:01 – 7:00 pm
No Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call — Present: Jen Daly McFadden, Sam Orr, Steven Dodd, Rosanne O’Hara, Nancy Walker, Bill Gibson, Bryan Bentz, Paul Dzurec and Peggy Roberts

Absent: None

Bill moved to dispense with the normal order of business to allow David Provencher of Shore Design to review the plan for James/Oak Street wall.  Sam seconded. Motion passed. Provencher presented three options for longterm design and construction of the wall. They included a choice of building materials, concrete or stone, and their uses, which depend on the existence of bedrock and other variables. 

Board members inquired about access to the water from the wall and whether stairs need to be included in the design. There were also questions about how the new wall would effect flooding on Oak Street.

The timeline discussed would have permits in place by the first of next year and another year for construction. 

LPA board members were asked to confer on which approach the designers should use to move forward.

Paul then moved to set aside the normal order of the agenda to accommodate Matt Meyer to discuss new plans for posting material on the LPA website. Steven seconded. Motion passed.

Board members agreed to take some of the posting duties on, including the posting of the agendas, minutes and other messages.  Jen, Nancy and Peggy will meet with Matt offline to work this out.

Minutes: Sam moved to accept the minutes with an adjustment in the president’s report saying “anticipates lots of good candidates” regarding the search for a new fire chief. Bill seconded. Motion passed.

President’s Report: The Stonington Fire Chief position posting went public today. The committee plans to hire in May and have the new chief in place when Chief Hoadley retires in July.

Our legal fee rate has been raised to $315 an hour, from $300.

A trove of documents pertaining to the Langworthy lawsuit is available to board members for review (at no additional charge by our lawyer) through Jen.  

Clerk Report: No report. 

Treasurer Report: The 1099 tax forms went out. We have two payments left on the Boulder Dock loan.  Everything else is on track. 

Standing Committee Reports

Docks: No report.

Roads: No report.

Beaches: No report.

Nominating: No report.

Recreation: The question of how our insurance covers LPA events was raised. This should be addressed on our March agenda, or sometime before summer.

Property: We need a new quote on an HVAC system for the Community House.  Jen will handle this.

Community House: Internet service for the Community House will be available nearer to the summer season.

Insurance: No report.

Fire: No report.

Special Committees

Garden Club: No report.

Website: No report.  

Coastal Resilience: No report.  

Unfinished business:

James/Oak street wall: The wall will need seasonal repairs as the permanent fix project continues.

Legal Update:  Peggy, Nancy and Bryan were nominated for the litigation committee. Sam moved to vote on this. Rosanne seconded.  Motion Passed.  They will join Jen on the four-member committee.

There is currently a May 19 trial date in the Langworthy suit, with pretrial business on May 12.

Bryan moved to go into executive session to discuss the lawsuit.  Steven seconded. Motion passed at 6:28 pm.

Nancy moved to adjourn the executive session and Bill seconded.  This passed at 6:59 pm. 

New Business:
No new business.
Bryan moved to adjourn, Bill seconded.  Motion passed at 7:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted, 
Peggy Roberts
Clerk