By Beth David, Editor
At its meeting on 9/22/25, the Fairhaven Select Board agreed to allow a Rochester police officer to ride along with Fairhaven police; accepted two proposals from Fairhaven Wind that they would discuss in executive session.
Fairhaven police chief, Daniel Dorgan, told the board that the Rochester Police Department tries to have the same amount of field training as Fairhaven, but Rochester does not have the call volume that Fairhaven has.
He said it is not unusual for them to go a whole night shift without a single call, but Fairhaven is very busy. He said Rochester Police Chief Michael Assad is “very forward thinking,” in getting his department where it needs to be.
He proposed that the officer who is now in his field training phase ride along with Fairhaven officers for two weeks.
Chief Dorgan said the two towns already have a mutual aid agreement. Lt. Swain would work on the evaluation and report back to Rochester.
Interim Town Administrator, George Samia, said the town’s labor counsel also represents Rochester, so that is why it was before the board. She would feel more comfortable if the board voted on it, he said.
SB member, Andrew Saunders, asked how the arrangement would benefit the town.
Chief Dorgan said because Fairhaven has a mutual aid agreement with Rochester, it is in the best interests of both towns for officers to be similarly trained. He also said there was a money component to it because of the mutual ad agreement.
Mr. Saunders asked that the town make sure the insurance is sufficient to cover the situation. He also suggested they add a dollar amount, even if just $1.
The board voted to approve the agreement with the amendments.
The board also received two proposals from Fairhaven Wind that were not made public. An executive session item was scheduled for the end of the meeting to discuss the proposals.
Project owner, Sumul Shah, summarized them saying that one is to repower the turbines, which would require a change in the contract with the town. He said if they decided to g that route, he would have to order parts by July of next year. There is much to be done before they are ready to order parts, so he urged the board to act quickly.
The second proposal is to accelerate the timeline for the town to take over the project completely. That would give the town the control to shut down the turbines whenever there were complaints from abutters.
Mr. Shah and Mr. Saunders had a bit of a back-and-forth about a request made by Mr. Saunders. Mr. Shah seemed to think he had gotten the information.
Mr. Saunders said he had wanted Mr. Shah to find out from the Building Commissioner if he would issue a permit for the repowering of the WTs considering the bylaw had changed.’
In the end the board voted to have Mr. Shah meet with both Mr. Saunders and the Building Commissioner to clear up the misunderstanding.
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Click here to download the 9/25/25 issue: 09-25-25 Medieval
Click here to download the Planning Board texts: KevinGrantDocs
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