New Harbor Master in Bristol...

In case you missed it, here is Jim Hummel's Club Letter this week... regarding the harbor master position in Bristol.  Good job Jim!

With the exception of Newport, Bristol is probably the one community in Rhode Island synonymous with the water and boating. The legacy of the Herreshoff family is front and center on Hope Street and Halsey Herreshoff has been on the council for as long as anybody can remember. The aerial shots during the annual 4th of July parade show a harbor packed like nautical sardines.

So it surprised me when I first heard about Mike Marshall's story that the harbormaster was pretty much a no-show and that the assistant harbormaster Matt Calouro (not-so-coincidentally his son-in-law; after all this is Rhode Island) who was supposed to be patrolling a key area was out on worker's comp with no replacement. How a place with such a vibrant waterfront and coastline could be left virtually unmanned stunned me. Although I couldn't confirm it, a source in Bristol told me Joe Cabral had 300 unanswered calls on the office voicemail when a harbor commission member followed up after Marshall complained about not being able to get through.

The story speaks for itself: was the council going to go with the old guard - or new guard? They had some good candidates to choose from, including a 20-year Coast Guard veteran and a captain for the Blount cruise line. And Matt Calouro. Marshall's not-so-subtle point was: how could the assistant harbormaster, who happens to be the harbormaster's son-in-law,  not know what was going on with his father-in-law? I got emails that Joe Cabral had been a no-show for years, and had a full-time job somewhere else. We didn't report it because I couldn't confirm it, but the fact pattern holds for the assertion.

I spoke yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) with a lifelong Bristolian who I used to play volleyball with and have talked to periodically over the past several months about the harbormaster controversy. In fact, we had moved up this week's story because the council was voting Wednesday night. A few hours before the meeting, he called to say he appreciated my effort,  but that the die had been cast and he had no doubt the interim harbormaster was going to get  the job.

So you can imagine my surprise when I got an email from Mike Marshall  late last night saying they bypassed the interim/son-in-law Matt Calouro and chose Gregg Marsilli, the 20-year veteran of the Coast Guard. It's even more momentous because Calouro is a Bristolian and not  choosing him means he's out of a job, as they've restructured the position in the post-Cabral era to have the harbormaster be full-time, year-round, with no assistant per se, just seasonal help in the summer. My friend said that would never happen.

I had contacted the council clerk Tuesday asking him to let the members know our story would  be coming out Wednesday morning and when/where they could  find it. Did it change the vote? Maybe. Maybe not.  Or maybe it reinforced for those who voted for Marsilli that a clean sweep really was needed and this was the nudge they needed to do it.

One disclaimer: Our family has had a mooring  in the Warren River since 1968 and my Pearson 26 sailboat is about to make its annual journey from West Barrington, where we keep it in the winter, over to the Warren river for the next five months. Matt Calouro, in addition to his full-time duties in Bristol as the assistant,  is also the harbormaster in Warren; it's considered a part-time position. I'd never met him, but know who he is because he processes my mooring application every year. I thought (briefly) about whether I should do a story on a guy who has control over my mooring and whether he could make my life miserable.

But I went ahead anyway, because to me it's just as bad to avoid doing a story that could have potential negative ramifications for me personally, as it would be to do a story that might help me in the long run (whatever that might be).  It's our job to just shine the light and let the chips fall where they may.

Last summer for the first time in 44 years, a power boat had a hard time negotiating the very strong tide around my mooring, which is dead center at the confluence of the Barrington and Warren Rivers.  The cable on his engine snapped as he tried to go into reverse and the tide carried him smack into us mid-ship a couple of feet above the waterline.  It was July 3rd, the height of the season and by the time the insurance adjuster came and the repairs were done I lost five weeks out of what is a very short sailing season.

I called Matt Calouro because I needed to fill out some paperwork and let him know about the accident. DEM then got involved and everything was taken care of, we were going away on vacation and I didn't really think about him - until he called weeks later saying he got my message.  I said: ``Well, it's good I wasn't  having a heart attack and needed you,'' jokingly but also with a bit of a sarcastic  tone. After all, what  is my $180/year going for? ``Hey, it's a part-time position here,'' he said somewhat defensively.

That's not why I decided to do the story, but as I thought about it after talking to Mike Marshall it put a lot of things in perspective. Like father-in-law, like son-in-law?  Who knows, but the least we can expect from public officials is that when you make a call seeking information or need help, that they answer it within a reasonable period of time.

I have no doubt  that will now happen in Bristol this summer.

Thanks for your support.

Jim