By Beth David, Editor
During an hours-long meeting on 3/10/25 that was mostly held in executive session, the Fairhaven Select Board started out with a proclamation to recently retired police lieutenant, David Sobral, who served 41 years in the Fairhaven Police Department.
The proclamation outlined some of the highlights of Lt. Sobral’s career, saying he “upheld the highest standards of law enforcement, earning the respect and admiration of colleagues, community members and public officials.”
Lt. Sobral told the board that he “enjoyed every minute of it.”
The board held four executive sessions, including one with the Zoning Board of Appeals about the litigation between the ZBA and the School Department, which was filed when the ZBA revoked the building permit for a storage shed at Fairhaven High School (see 1/9/25 issue).
Before they went into executive session, Patrick Carr spoke to the board. Mr. Carr is the chairperson of the ZBA, and has had to recuse himself from the litigation discussions because he owns Seaspray Container Company with his daughter, and the containers they lease to the school department at FHS will no longer be needed if the storage shed is finished, creating a Conflict of Interest (COI).
Mr. Carr noted that he had a procedural question only because he had to recuse himself because of the COI. He said the Select Board did not try to contact him or the Vice Chair or the building commissioner to discuss the meeting. He questioned when they could have made the decision to meet with the ZBA because he could find no record of a vote for it.
SB member Keith Silvia said he never voted for the meeting. SB member Andrew Romano said it was done in executive session.
SB member Andrew Saunders said he would not get into what was discussed in executive session.
Mr. Carr said he wanted to know if the purpose of the meeting was to discuss strategy for that litigation because the matter is between the ZBA and the School Department, not the SB. He asked if the SB is administering legal advice to the ZBA.
After a bit more back and forth, SB Chair, Stasia Powers, who joined the meeting electronically, said they had to discuss it in executive session, not open session.
The board did meet with the ZBA in executive session.
At the end of all the executive sessions, Vice Chair Charles Murphy, who ran the meeting due to Ms. Powers being a remote participant, reminded everyone that they cannot discuss what happened in executive session. He did not address that item specifically.
For the executive about the contract for Fairhaven Wind, Mr. Murphy said no decisions were made. He also said that the letter John Methia spoke about before the executive session would be included in the minutes.
In another bit of executive session drama and curiosity, the board met to discuss Fire Chief Todd Correia under MGL 30A & 21(a)(1), which is about character or complaints and not professional competence.
Then, item D1 was supposed to be to discuss the process of appointing an Acting Deputy Fire Chief.
However, when the item came up after the executive sessions, Mr. Murphy read a statement: “We are taking this under advisement for the appointing of an acting Deputy Fire Chief due to several factors, including a change in leadership and budgetary considerations. However, the Select Board will determine the process and oversee the hiring of this position.”
In what seems to be related, at the 12/16/24 meeting (see 12/19/24 issue), Chief Correia filed six Conflict of Interest disclosures relating to his promoting or hiring family members, or participating in contract negotiations, including his brother, Paul Correia, installed as Acting Captain; his nephew Tyler Correia, who is Paul’s son, promoted to lieutenant; and his brother-in-law promoted to rank of lieutenant. At that meeting, the board cleared Chief Correia to participate in all aspects of the job. He would not, however, participate in any assessment centers for promotions.
It is unclear if those proceedings had anything to do with Monday’s meeting.
The fourth executive session was for union contract negotiations.
In another matter, the board discussed restarting the process for issuing an RFP (Request for Proposals) to sell or re-use the Rogers School. An RFP from 2022 resulted in a proposal being chosen. But it got mired down in a legal battle after the town alleged that developer Zachary Mayo did not meet the obligations of the RFP and he sued the town for breach of contract.
The matter has been bouncing around in Superior Court. Mr. Saunders said he looked at the public court records (search MassCourts. org) and believed the matter would be resolved soon.
Sue Loo, chairperson of the Rogers School Reuse Committee, said she was under the impression that they could not do anything until the court case was decided.
The board said they were only discussing the RFP and will not submit it until the case is resolved.
The board also heard from Building Commissioner, Richard Forand, asking the board to clarify a process for waiving fees for town building projects. Mr. Forand recommended requiring all projects to pay the fees. If a town department, or other petitioner, wants a waiver because of a hardship or other reason, they would have to be approved by the Select Board, so it would not fall on the Building Commissioner to decide.
Board members agreed and voted to require all petitioners to pay the fees, or get a waiver from the Select Board, not the Building Commissioner.
The board also met remotely with Richard White of Groux-White Consulting, the firm chosen to conduct the Town Administrator search. Mr. White asked for each board member to submit two names of people his firm can interview to get an in depth view of the “culture” of Fairhaven and what success would be for the new Town Administrator. He said it was easier to find someone with technical competence, but more difficult to find someone who is a good match for a community. He said he is confident his firm, working with the screening committee, can find a good fit.
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