Former Fall River city chief, Mayor Coogan explain resignation: 'Wish this never happened'

FALL RIVER — The abrupt resignation of erstwhile metropolis head Seth Aitken came aft officials raised concerns that Aitken helped record concern incorporation papers for a metropolis EMS authoritative who had planned to commencement a business.

Through a nationalist records request, The Herald News obtained paperwork comparative to an “internal, unofficial investigation” of Aitken that took spot recently.

Included successful the records were 2 incorporation documents from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office, dated April 9, 2024.

The businesses being incorporated were Curos Holdings LLC and Curos Billing and Compliance LLC, some managed by Nicholas Silva, an worker of the city's exigency aesculapian services department. The second business, according to the incorporation document, was created to “perform billing, collection, and consulting services for wellness attraction providers, including but not constricted to exigency aesculapian work (EMS) organizations.”

'Internal, unofficial investigation': Fall River City Administrator Seth Aitken resigns

Aitken filed the incorporation papers and is listed arsenic the corporations’ registered agent. A registered cause is simply a constituent of interaction to whom the authorities and different entities tin service ineligible documents.

Silva was appointed the city’s main of EMS aboriginal that twelvemonth successful November. A website for Curos Billing and Compliance is presently defunct, and the institution evidently ne'er materialized. A cached mentation of its website describes the benignant of enactment the concern would person performed, including absorption of ambulance work billing, auditing to guarantee compliance with ineligible regulations, proviso procurement for ambulances, and assistance management.

Coogan: No grounds of fiscal dealings

In an interrogation Tuesday, Aitken told The Herald News helium filed the paperwork for Silva arsenic a courtesy, since helium is an lawyer and acquainted with the incorporation process, but said helium was not portion of immoderate imaginable concern dealings oregon progressive financially.

Mayor Paul Coogan, contacted Wednesday, said helium did not judge immoderate wealth changed hands betwixt the 2 and that nary clients were ever obtained.

Still, Aitken said, though helium did not dainty Silva otherwise afterward, fixed his presumption arsenic metropolis head with oversight implicit Silva, helium decided to measurement distant from the occupation alternatively than person an probe origin further distraction.

“I had prepared immoderate documents and agreed to beryllium the registered cause for a person who wanted to commencement a company. I ne'er had immoderate fiscal involvement oregon anticipation from the institution oregon immoderate decision-making quality successful the company. But my doing that surely created the cognition oregon imaginable quality of a struggle that should’ve been avoided," Aitken said.

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“Even though there’s thing that I did otherwise successful airy of my assistance to Mr. Silva, I deliberation astatine the extremity of the day, the quality exists and I shouldn’t person allowed it to exist. And I consciousness atrocious that it did create, and could’ve created adjacent much of a distraction for the administration, who I deliberation is moving hard to bash bully enactment for the residents of Fall River.”

Coogan agreed with however Aitken characterized the situation.

“This was an thought that ran distant from them. Even ideas tin get you successful trouble, and I deliberation that that’s what happened," Coogan said.

What happens next: 'I privation this ne'er happened'

Aitken joined the city’s instrumentality squad successful May 2021 arsenic adjunct corp counsel. He was unanimously approved by the City Council successful January 2022, and was fixed a two-year declaration arsenic metropolis head with a wage of $130,000.

Aitken has said helium would instrumentality to backstage instrumentality practice.

“Seth did a bully job," Coogan said. “I privation this ne'er happened, to archer you the truth. I truly do.”

This nonfiction primitively appeared connected The Herald News: Fall River metropolis main Seth Aitken explains resignation: EMS business