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Resident accuses harbor administration of irregular mooring assignments; town says it is reviewing records
Summary
Jim Starkey told the Select Board he has documentation alleging multiple mooring assignments violated DEP rules and town bylaws and asked for enforcement; town staff said their review to date found no substantiating evidence but will continue to investigate and consider publishing transaction records.
During public comment July 6, resident Jim Starkey presented lists and accused harbor administration—including the harbormaster—of giving inner-harbor moorings to individuals off the posted change and waiting lists. Starkey supplied counts he said were taken from public-record requests: 14 moorings assigned directly from a waiting list, 22 inner-harbor assignments he said violated regulations, 11 "stealth" moorings he said were given to Manchester Marine in 2024 without public notice, and 8 assigned to another party; he said those assignments cheated people on the change list and violated DEP requirements that assignments follow a written list and a town transaction log.
Starkey urged enforcement and suggested referral for prosecution for failure to follow town transaction requirements. He also described being notified that his mooring assignment would be revoked and said he was offered a meeting but declined to be silenced.
Town staff responded during the meeting that the claims had been reviewed, that staff had not found substantiating evidence to date, and that the harbormaster has been responsive and acting in compliance based on the town's review. Board members and staff discussed publishing transaction-level records (moves, changes, removals) to the town website as a transparency measure to address concerns; staff said some information had been added to the harbormaster list earlier in the year but the website still needs updates and that detailed transaction logs may exist in departmental records.
Board direction: staff will continue to review records provided, consider publishing transaction-level information where appropriate, and report back.
Quote: "We've looked into a lot of these claims ... we've not found any substantiating evidence to the claims that were just made ... but we will continue to look through anything that's brought to our attention," staff said.
