This year after paying $100 to register my mooring, I decided to let a friend use my mooring this year. The mooring registration has space for information about the registrant and separate space for the boat information about the boat using the mooring, with two different name lines, one for the registrant and another one for the boat owner. And town ordinance does not require the boat owner to be the same person as the mooring registrant. When I asked the Harbormaster about whether my friend could use my mooring, he said my friend could but there would be an additional fee if he used the mooring for more than 14 days. The Harbormaster cited an ordinance that only applied to areas with a waiting list as of April first. My mooring is not in such an area. I contested the fee and eventually was told by the Chairman of the Harbor Commission in a July phone call,  "that's the way we 've always done it". I appealed the Harbormaster's decision to the Harbor commission and my appeal can be seen here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:us:af4e59d6-f6ca-412a-8272-91a54bfe23f4?viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover My statement to the Harbor Commission at the appeal hearing on September 17, 2025 can be seen here:https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:us:8697ae56-f282-4675-ab24-2aa2c75b49ce

Long and short, the Harbor Commission hearing was a textbook example of a disrespectful kangaroo court as can be seen in my appeal to the Town Council here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:0eb8d252-4c89-45ea-a04e-b56eb82dfb67 and in an addendum here:  https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:9726790b-ab21-4b93-b727-625ed81ccf5c and in my October 6  comments before the Town Council which can be seen here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:51a08dea-f489-454c-8167-fdcd86b4bce5

This issue has now taken a deeply troubling turn for every taxpayer in this town. After I filed a formal appeal with the Town Council detailing a prejudiced and procedurally flawed hearing by the Harbor Commission, the Town's response was a letter from a lawyer stating that you, the Town Council,  are "not legally empowered" to hear my case. The letter can be seen here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:07478531-02ba-414c-9a21-f33bb3f5231c

The solicitor’s letter, however, conveniently omits the most important law of all: your own Town Charter. 

The charter states (2-1-6, subsection h) that the Town Council shall have and exercise "ultimate power and authority to regulate all moorings and fees in the waters of Barrington." 

How is it fair for the Town Council to have ultimate authority, delegate it to its subordinate, the Harbor Commission, and then say it's "not our problem" when the process goes off the rails? 

This is now about a fundamental question of governance: Do we, the citizens of Barrington, have a right to a fair and impartial hearing from our elected officials? Or is our only path to justice a costly lawsuit against the very government we fund? This is a blatant attempt by the Town to avoid accountability. 

The Solution:

We, the undersigned, urge the Barrington Town Council to reject the solicitor's transparently unfair legal argument, honor its duty under the Town Charter, and grant the fair and public hearing that its own commission denied.