WELLFLEET — Three days after town meeting voters agreed to spend another $10,000 to continue a years-long cemetery restoration and repair project, an independent historic gravestone conservator delivered her report calling the work done thus far unacceptable.

The vote on Article 16 at the Sept. 12 town meeting to fund phase 3 of the restoration was preceded by a brief debate, during which select board member Ryan Curley argued against the new appropriation, saying, “The work has been badly done. It needs to be done correctly.”

But Cemetery Commissioner David Agger defended the project. “We are excited by the improvements,” he said. He argued that there was a limit to the amount of restoration that could be accomplished, and that “most of the remaining headstones are so damaged it’s not worth trying to restore them.” The damage to gravestones shown in photographs that had been circulated by Curley was, Agger said, “not the fault of the people employed to do the restoration.” Agger could not be reached for any further explanation.

The select board, after reviewing the evidence presented by Curley, had voted unanimously not to recommend Article 16. Agger, who has been a member of the commission since 2012, said that the cemetery commission had not been given an opportunity to explain. “We can only express our disappointment that there was no attempt to contact us about their concerns,” he said.

“The pictures were very convincing,” said select board member Helen Miranda Wilson. “We should hit the pause button. I don’t have confidence in the process.” She noted that there was a site visit to the cemeteries scheduled for the next day, Sunday.

Select board member Janet Reinhart said she had changed her recommendation after talking to commissioners and was now in favor of the article. But she suggested that “maybe we should change contractors.” The affirmative vote quickly followed. The total amount appropriated for the restoration work now stands at $94,162.

The site visit to the Pleasant Hill-Oakdale and Duck Creek cemeteries on Sept. 13, organized by Curley, was attended by Ta Mara Conde of Historic Gravestone Services, an independent conservator in New Salem. Both Curley and Wilson were present, but neither Agger nor either of the other two cemetery commissioners, Nancy Vail and Bonnie Robicheau, attended.

In her Sept. 15 report of conditions at the cemeteries, Conde described evidence of a multitude of improper attempts to repair and reset the gravestones, concluding, “This work does not conform to any currently acceptable standards.”

Some of the “restoration” work, Conde wrote, would likely lead to further damage and deterioration, some of which could be irreparable.

“During my visit, I observed gravestones and footstones which were set directly into wet concrete,” she wrote. “This is not an acceptable technique and will lead to future damage to the stone…. In addition, footstones were moved from their original location behind the headstone (marking the burial) and placed next to the headstone. The preservation of the landscape is important and grave markers should never be moved from their original site.”

Conde also found that, in some cases, sections of gravestones had been cut away and removed and the remaining pieces glued together.

“In more ‘radical repairs,’ ” she wrote, “the entire inscription was cut away and discarded, then the top fragment attached to the bottom section of the stone. Without a name or date remaining on the stone, it no longer serves as a gravestone. Per the Secretary of the Interior’s standards, all fragments should be preserved or buried near the gravestone for future preservation. Cutting away and discarding fragments does not follow the primary objective of conservation to do no harm and is not a reversible treatment. I observed two stones which were cut and reattached in this manner and the mating sections did not match up.”

Donna Rickman, an amateur genealogist who lives in Wellfleet, said she has been expressing her worries about the cemetery work to town officials for the last three or four years. “These are historic artifacts of formerly living people,” she said. “If that was your grandmother’s stone, how would you feel?”

The work on the gravestones has been contracted by the cemetery commission to Robert Devaney of Wallingford, Conn. Contacted by phone last week, he refused to comment, saying only, “I’ve been asked not to say anything.”

Cemetery Commissioner Nancy Vail, who is also the town assessor, acknowledged on Monday that she had told Devaney not to answer questions. “If there’s anything to be said, it should be through the commission,” Vail said. When asked who had hired Devaney to do the restoration work, she said, “We don’t know. He was already working when I came on the commission.”

Vail issued a statement on Sept. 20 in an effort to clarify the commission’s intentions.

“The Cemetery Commissioners are no longer engaging any vendor to perform any restorations,” she wrote. “Any broken monuments will be photographed and safeguarded in our crypts, and families are welcome to engage any restorer they choose to fix their own family’s headstones at their own expense. No taxpayer dollars will be used to fix broken stones. Going forward, we intend to use the limited funds we have only to shore up monuments that are in danger of falling.”

Attempts to reach Commissioner Bonnie Robicheau for this story were unsuccessful.

The annual fall cleanup at the Pleasant Hill-Oakdale Cemetery (across from the police station) will take place this Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m. to noon, drizzle or shine. Volunteers with masks, protective gloves, and hand tools will prune vegetation and clean up trash and debris. For more information, call Nancy Vail at 508-349-0304.