Harbor Master Ties Up Two-Decade Career

Friends, family, and town officials gathered at Town Hall Wednesday afternoon to toast the retirement of Harbor Master Robert P. Price, who capped off two decades in the post during a handover ceremony.

As Darien's harbor master, Price was responsible for the general care and supervision of the harbor and other navigable waterways. 

The duties of the position include enforcing boating laws, tracking floating dock specifications, assigning mooring spaces, and replacing and maintaining buoys.

Reading from a citation that declared June 30 to be "Robert Price Day" in Darien, First Selectman Dave Campbell praised Price's steadfast service to the town.

"Although there were times when several storms caused chaos among the moored boats, Bob has sailed through still knowing what side is port and what side is starboard, and what is fore and what is aft," Campbell said.

Price then returned his metal badge to Campbell, who immediately presented it to incoming Harbor Master Tom Bell.

"As a resident living down at the water, I can assure you you've done a great job," Campbell told Price afterwards, joking that "nobody's washed up on my beach in years."

"This is a total surprise, a delightful surprise to me," Price said of the occasion.

Price first came into the position in 1989. He was selected by the governor out of two names submitted for consideration by the town.

"I never thought I'd be in here 20 years," he said. "I thought maybe five or six or something like that. The time really went very fast."

Price said that a need for continuity in the position had prompted him to step down sooner rather than later.

"What I was concerned about ... that I could suddenly get sick or die, and then nobody would really what was going on: where's the paperwork, what has been done, what hasn't been done," he said. "So I would rather do it now—resign—and then get everything turned over to Tom [Bell]."

Despite the occasional hiccup—including a handful of legal issues that required input from the Attorney General's office—Price said he almost always found Darienites easy to work with.

"We've had some arguments, but 99 percent of the people, once you explain the situation: 'Okay. What else can we do?'" Price added.