Falmouth Baulked On November 2013 Court Mediation Again

Falmouth Select Board top left to right: Susan L. Moran, Megan English Braga, Samuel H. Patterson, Doug Jones

VIDEO TODAY -- 4:28 PM

Falmouth Secret History Wind Turbine # 1 Video 4:28 PM Sunday
September 4, 2016
Please watch the video with Town Meeting Member Dave Moriarty and guest Frank Haggerty this Sunday at 4:28 PM.

The Secret History of Wind 1

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Town Baulked On Mediation Multiple Times Over 6 Years including the 2012 WTOP CBI $139,000.00 24 meetings in which the town hid the noise warning letter from Vestas wind company that the turbines generated 110 decibels of noise. The town hid the letter for 5 years :

Then again November 21, 2013 :

Story from 2013

"Barnstable Court Very Disappointed That Falmouth Failed to Keep Agreement
Judge Muse to Issue Order Regarding Wind Turbine Operation by Tomorrow

Barnstable, MA – Today a Superior Court Judge told Falmouth Town Counsel, Frank Duffy, that he was very disappointed that the Town of Falmouth hadn’t abided by the November 7th agreement with Neil Andersen to run the wind turbines 7AM to 7PM. Judge Muse made it clear that when an agreement between parties is presented to him that he can expects it to be enforced. “Agreements stand as orders” said the judge.

An embarrassed Mr. Duffy told the judge that he couldn’t get consensus from Falmouth Selectmen.

Two weeks ago, in the injunction hearing in the Town of Falmouth vs. the Falmouth Zoning Board of Appeals case where the ZBA decided that the wind turbines were a nuisance to Neil Andersen, both parties presented a 7AM to 7PM agreement to the judge. Falmouth Selectmen subsequently disregarded that agreement and continued to run the wind turbines 5AM to 9PM. Selectman Moffitt, who was in on the negotiations, went so far last week on Town Meeting floor as to advocate running the turbines 24/7.

On the witness stand were Neil Andersen and Town Administrator Julian Suso. Mr. Andersen at one point broke down while telling the court that the remedy offered by Falmouth Building Commissioner Eladio Gore was nothing more than what was offered some three years ago and the wind turbines are still a nuisance and causing him and his family harm.

In order to determine harm to the Town by shutting down the wind turbines, Mr. Suso testified as to funding of both wind turbines and the legal agreements the Town executed in the course of erecting the two 400FT machines. Many of his answers could be characterized as “before I was Town Manager” or “I don’t have that information but could research it”. He stated that he relied on Assistant Town Manager Heather Harper who was integral in bring the turbines to Falmouth and Finance Director Jennifer Petitt for much of his information submitted in his lengthy affidavit. He testified as there was somewhere less that $2M in free cash and Town Counsel subsequently acknowledged that the financial impact of stopping the turbines although significant would not be catastrophic to the Town

Mr. Suso addressed the decision by the EPA who declared that it was satisfied that the ARRA funds it funneled through the Massachusetts Water Abatement Trust had been converted to a grant from the original loan but were to be subject to the State. Subsequently the contract between the Town and the State was presented. It was established that a provision in the contract stated that any Town repayments would not be subject to factors beyond it’s control (ie. Court decision).

Mr. Suso testified that the State (MA Clean Energy Center) dictated in a very forceful way that any operational changes were to be made known to them and that the Town was responsible to them for operational decisions.

Judge Muse concluded the hearing by saying that he would issue and order no later than tomorrow."

The judge shut down both turbines 12 hours a day Sunday and Holidays