Somerset car dealership says license was wrongfully suspended by town

Somerset car dealership Three Dads Auto says their license to operate was wrongfully not renewed by the Board of Selectman after the town building inspector paid a visit to the property.

The business manager for Three Dads Auto Arthur Bosse as well as Attorney Thomas E. Romano on behalf of the owners spoke last night in a public hearing at the Somerset Public Library.

The business license for the auto dealership was not renewed this past December after the building inspector reported that the business was in violation of their ability to sell 25 vehicles and reported over 30 cars were on the lot for sale. The business was not able to sell cars beginning January 1st of 2024.

Three Dads Auto manager Arthur Bosse and attorney Thomas E. Romano address the Somerset Board of Selectman at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Over a dozen supporters of the business were in the audience last night, some getting frustrated with the decision of the board, with several supporters yelling that the board was corrupt after Board of Selectman Jacob Vaught was overheard at a previous meeting offering fellow selectman Allan Smith “$20 to deny” an application where the third board member Jamison Souza was a manager. It seemed to be a joke, but supporters of Three Dads Auto took it seriously.

Supporters of Three Dads Auto attended the Somerset Board of Selectman meeting on Wednesday.

“These politicians are all corrupt” said a woman who did not want to identify herself. The woman confronted the board from the audience at one point in the meeting:

Attorney Romano argued that a record kept on the premises shows that on the day of the building inspector visit, there were only 16 vehicles for sale. The property has other vehicles on site, some getting repaired or getting ready for sale, but at the time, they were under the allowed limit for how many cars could be sold.

Board of Selectman Chairman Jamison Souza asked how the building inspector would have been able to distinguish which cars were for sale and which were not. Bosse then provided a window sticker that gives car details. Attorney Romano stated that all cars that are for sale have one of these stickers on the window and all the building inspector needed to do was count the number of cars with stickers to know which cars were for sale. The manager went on to say that the building inspector did not make contact with him nor anyone else on site at the time of the inspection and had he, he would have been able to clearly identify which cars were for sale and that they did not exceed the 25 permit limit.

Bosse appealed to the board that the first week of the year is one of the busiest weeks for car dealerships and they have lost business being closed. Bosse says the small dealership sells between 4 to 6 cars a week and being closed for any amount of time hurts his business.

Bosse stated that there have been recent changes made to dealership requirements by the town, but they are grandfathered in and have never been notified that they were required to make any adjustments.

“I have been asking for clarification on these things from the town for years and nobody seems to know the answers.”

In the absence of any additional parameters, Bosse says the only guideline they have is that only 25 vehicles can be sold on site and Bosse maintains they have never exceeded that.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the board voted to allow the dealership to only temporarily resume business operations until further clarification from the Zoning Board is made.

Attorney Romano, speaking with Fall River Reporter today, said he will be representing the business at future hearings, including the Zoning Board of Appeals, should the matter make its way there.

“Obviously we want to fully comply with the license and operate this business under the letter of the law,” said Romano.

“We believe that my client is not in any violation.”