Falmouth Wind Turbine Appeal Could Require Town Meeting Vote Over Finances

Falmouth Board of Selectmen Town Code: Wind Turbine Litigation

It is the intent of the Town Charter that the Board shall exercise control over town affairs by: Recommending major courses of action to the Town Meeting and Making recommendations to Town Meeting on all warrant articles that are not the purview of the Finance Committee or the Planning Board.

The Friends of Falmouth Wind an undisclosed group of people is urgently requesting you to send a message to Falmouth's Selectmen indicating your support for the turbines and the need for them to be on 24/7. The request asks the Falmouth Select Board to appeal the recent court decision.

Citizens are being requested to send a message to selectmen@falmouthmass.us and jsuso@falmouthmass.us

The Friends of Falmouth Wind should be asking for signatures for a Special Town Meeting to finance the litigation necessary to appeal the recent wind turbine shut downs and in addition provide Town Meeting Members with the 110-decibel wind turbine warning, maps, emails and memos that show a Special Permit was needed.

Town Meeting decides three major things
A. It sets the salaries for the elected officials.
B. It votes to appropriate money to run the town. The Select Board can not spend money unless approved by Town Meeting Members
C. It votes on the town’s local statutes, which are called by-laws.

The Falmouth Select Board meets in Executive Session Monday, July 10, 2017.

The Falmouth Select Board is going to request a decision from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center about the 5 million dollar ARRA stimulus loan/grant received by the Town of Falmouth for Falmouth Wind II.

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 12 directors that meet the third Tuesday of the month. The next meeting is July 18, 2017. It's not clear if the Falmouth wind turbine question is on the MassCEC Board of Directors Agenda.

At local Falmouth Town Meeting, November 15, 2016, Town Attorney Frank Duffy told Falmouth Town Meeting Members the town will prevail on wind turbine lawsuits. The courts recently shut down both wind turbines 24/7.

Falmouth Town Meeting Members approved $440,000.00 for town litigation at the November 2016 meeting. It was predicted that $260,000.00 would be used for wind turbine litigation. Town Meeting meets twice a year. A legal appeal of the most recent shut down was not included in the Town Meeting financial forecast.

A decision to appeal the most recent court ruling against the wind turbines requires hiring another or the same outside law firm. The decision to appeal the decision should also require a Special Town Meeting to approve the additional investment in outside law firms.

The purest form of democratic governing is practiced at Falmouth Town Meeting or Special Town Meeting. An appeal of the court-ordered shutdown of both the wind turbines will require possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars and the town faces two more lawsuits in September and multiple lawsuits still not filed on the Massachusetts court schedule.

It's worth pointing out quotes from a Falmouth Special Town Meeting in 2015

Falmouth Town Meeting Member and Former Select Board Member Brent Putnam in 2015: "When I was on the Board, we were given legal advice and, quite frankly, looking back on it -- because hindsight always is 20-20, isn’t it --we were told, “No problem, slam dunk”, and then we lost. “Oh, no problem, slam dunk”, and then we lost. And then we lost and then we lost."

Falmouth Town Meeting Member Dave Moriarty, precinct six: "I’m opposed to this article for several reasons. I don’t think we should spend another hard earned dollar of a Falmouth taxpayer on this failed project, and I think it’s the Mass. Clean Energy’s responsibility to absorb any losses that are incurred by the turbines being shut down. So I urge that we vote this thing down and don’t give them another dime."

The decision to file an appeal to the most recent court ruling should not be based on emails from the Friends of Falmouth Wind.

The decision to file an appeal which requires possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars requires a vote by Falmouth Special Town Meeting. Town Meeting Members should be asking if the town legal expenses over the last seven years have exceeded the original purchase price of Falmouth Wind I. At some point legal expenses exceed hundreds of thousands.

Falmouth Special Town Meetings are called by the Selectmen when considered necessary or upon written request of at least, 100 registered voters.

Massachusetts general laws say voters may call a special Town Meeting. Two hundred registered voters or 20% of the total number of registered voters, whichever is less in number, may request a special Town Meeting. The special Town Meeting must be held no later than 45 days after the Board of Selectmen receive the request.

The town at the Special Town Meeting needs to provide all the wind turbine documents including Vestas warning letters, maps, emails, memos for Falmouth Town Meeting Members to make an informed decision.

All the information