TRURO — With the terms of all the members of the ad hoc building committee set to expire at the end of June, the select board on June 24 appointed five members to a reconstituted committee with the same charge the first one was given nearly a year and a half ago: look for a less expensive way to build a new Dept. of Public Works facility.
The estimated cost of the DPW upgrade caused sticker shock when it came in at $29.2 million last December. Three separate measures that were designed to move the project forward had failed at a May 2024 special town meeting, and the ad hoc committee made little progress in more than a year since then.
The select board unanimously appointed two members of the new committee: Leif Hamnquist, an architect and member of the previous ad hoc committee, and Kevin Becica, an engineer who has also been appointed as an alternate to Truro’s board of health.
Harry Irwin, who told the board he has 50 years of experience in construction, was selected as an alternate.
Three others, Robert Panessiti, Robert Higgins-Steele, and Chris Lucy, who all served on the committee in the past, were reappointed by 3-1 votes, with select board chair Susan Areson casting all three “no” votes. Areson said that while she is grateful for the three men’s service to the town, she believes the project needs a fresh start.
“There’s too much at stake here to appoint anyone who has been involved in the sideshows that have detracted from the work of the committee,” Areson said, referring to arguments that hindered the group’s work over the last year and a half.
Board member Nancy Medoff disagreed with Areson, saying the three should be reappointed. “I don’t think it’s fair to penalize them for being targeted, bullied, libeled — whatever you want to call it,” Medoff said. “I would be very comfortable appointing any one of those three people, or all of those three people.”
Higgins-Steele, who is co-chair of the Truro Energy Committee, had been that committee’s representative on the ad hoc building group. When he was initially appointed, he told the board he had worked for more than 50 years in the construction industry and was familiar with the town’s codes and the existing DPW facility — which he said he believed was inadequate.
Dennis O’Brien, who has insisted that the new DPW facility can be built for less money than the town’s consultants say, objected to the appointment of Lucy, Panessiti, and Higgins-Steele. Lucy, O’Brien said, should be disqualified because of a conflict of interest, while the other two were the subjects of formal complaints O’Brien said he had filed with the town.
O’Brien claimed that Lucy stood to benefit financially from the DPW project because his brother is a controller at Weston & Sampson, the engineering firm the town has hired to design the facility.
Lucy confirmed that his brother works at Weston & Sampson but called O’Brien’s accusation “absurd,” saying that any financial benefit he might get because of that connection was insignificant.
O’Brien declined to give the Independent a copy of his complaint against Panessiti, who is also chair of the finance committee. Panessiti, however, provided a reporter with a copy. The complaint charged him with being uncivil toward fellow committee members in dismissing claims that the project could be done more cheaply.
Panessiti confirmed that he had referred to former committee member Anthony Garrett as not knowing what he was talking about, using a vulgar term. “I could have used a better word,” he told the Independent in an email.
Garrett, who is also president of the Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association, has claimed that the DPW facility could be built for $16.5 million. The town’s consultants found that the alternate plan favored by Garrett would actually cost at least $25 million.
Truro first set out to build a new public works facility in 2013, but controversy over the price and location has stalled progress. During that time, the estimated price has increased.
The town has authorized borrowing of up to $35 million, an amount meant to cover architectural and engineering fees, enclosed garages to protect town property from bad weather, and costs associated with complying with environmental regulations — costs town officials said Garrett’s proposal did not account for.
“How does it benefit the community to give them a number that isn’t substantiated?” Panessiti told the Independent. “We need to come into town meetings with a number that is real, that hopefully we can reduce, but we’re not doing anybody any favors by giving them a number that’s unrealistic.” Reached by phone and asked to comment for this article, Garrett said he was driving and not available to speak.
O’Brien also declined to provide the Independent with his complaint against Higgins-Steele.
Acting Town Manager Kelly Clark said the complaints were the subjects of an executive session and could therefore not be released.
