SAUGUS — Long-simmering tensions on the Board of Selectmen finally came to a head Tuesday night, as Vice Chairman Debra Panetta responded to repeated criticism by the board’s chair, Anthony Cogliano, of the report drafted by the Marijuana Establishment Review Committee, of herself, and of a fellow board member.
And, in subsequent statements to The Item following the meeting, Cogliano and Panetta doubled down on their criticisms of one another.
Cogliano accused Panetta and fellow Selectman Michael Serino of serving as a “rubber stamp” for Town Manager Scott Crabtree, while Panetta said Cogliano’s frustration with the committee’s report stems from the fact that its members recommended none of the companies he has personal connections to.
Cogliano filed disclosures noting relationships with developer Sal Palumbo, who owns 1393 Broadway, the proposed location for Triple M’s Saugus dispensary; Medi Mirnasiri, who owns 173 Main St., the proposed location for Olde World Remedies’ dispensary; and Bostica CEO Ray Falite.
“Cogliano has changed the meeting dates and delayed this process because the MERC did not recommend any of the three out of seven applicants that Cogliano has financial conflicts and friendships with and has filed conflicts-of-interest disclosures for,” Panetta said. “One has to wonder, if the MERC recommended any of these three, would Mr. Cogliano be delaying the process as he has?”
For his part, Cogliano said the report was “extremely vindictive” and if members had done additional research into the applicants, as he had, they would have reached the same conclusion.
And, Cogliano said Crabtree and the committee’s refusal to sit for a meeting to explain the conclusions reached in the report is evidence that the town needs a change.
“I’m tired of it, the voters should be too,” he said.
For his part, Crabtree has said the committee can not do so because of legal requirements surrounding the request-for-information process and that the report, which was compiled by Crabtree and other town department heads after months of work, speaks for itself.
The board had initially convened Tuesday for the purpose of hearing additional 10-minute presentations from the seven companies vying for S-2 permits to open their doors in town, and to potentially take a vote on the applications. But, with the revelation that Selectmen’s Clerk Janice Jarosz did not issue additional notice to abutters when the board failed to convene for the Oct. 4 meeting the hearings were initially continued to, the board was left with no choice but to adjourn the meeting without hearing additional details from the companies or taking a vote.
That didn’t stop Cogliano, who spearheaded the campaign to amend the town’s zoning to bring in cannabis, from renewing his criticisms of the process that the town has undertaken since the attorney general’s office approved the zoning change last fall. Adding to the chairman’s frustration was the continued absence of Crabtree, who has thus far failed to attend any of the hearings the board has conducted regarding the applicants.
“If we’re going to proceed and continue it would be beneficial to have the town manager here,” he said. “As the entire board knows, I do not accept the findings of the MERC report. I took the time and went out and viewed every establishment that applied, whether it’s a cultivation site or a dispensary, and I don’t agree with that report whatsoever.”
Cogliano also cited frustration with the committee’s decision to recommend just two companies, rather than the three that could ultimately earn licenses to open in town.
“I am not just going to take something handed to me… that report is inconclusive,” he said. “I’m not doing this to get it wrong.”
“I’m not going forward on this until I understand the role of that committee and why they came up with the scores they did,” he added.
Serino, citing Cogliano’s repeated criticism of the committee’s unanimous top choice, Uma Flowers, and a letter sent by the company’s attorney to the board, said it is his belief the town may well find itself in the middle of a legal battle with the company.
Panetta took offense to the idea that she and Serino would simply go along with suggestions dictated by Crabtree and praised the work undertaken by the committee to produce the report.
And, she said, by criticizing the report and implying that Crabtree influenced the scores awarded to each applicant, Cogliano was questioning the integrity of the committee members.
Serino backed Panetta, saying Cogliano’s public criticism of the committee members was a “disgrace.”
Cogliano said it is his belief that his fellow board members failed to do their due diligence by not conducting site visits to the existing locations, and said that should new board members be elected in November, they may be willing to put in the work he believes is necessary.
“If this board went out and actually saw what I saw, you would know that I’m thinking very clearly on what happened here,” he said.
Then, Cogliano ramped up his criticism of Serino and Panetta — criticizing Serino for putting 32 conditions on a special permit issued to Hilco Development before voting against the permit and Panetta for recusing herself from the hearings on a tattoo parlor in Saugus Center only at the close of a second hearing, after Serino indicated he would not support the proposal.
Panetta defended her conduct, saying she found out about the potential conflict the day of the second hearing and recused herself after speaking to the state Ethics Commission before a vote was taken. At the time, Panetta did not respond to questions about the nature of the conflict.
“You have the nerve to call me unethical?” Panetta fired back.
And, with Cogliano not backing down, she added, “You want to bring up things? How about you committing fraud?” referencing Cogliano’s fabrication of signatures on declarations filed in support of WIN Waste Innovations in a class action lawsuit brought against the company.
“Why don’t we talk about that? Why don’t we talk about Uma Flowers and the terrible things you said about them and we might be under potential litigation? How about the homophobic remarks that you make all over Facebook? How about that? You want to bring up stuff? Really?” she said.
Cogliano, with a chuckle, said, “I’ve already been through all this crap.”
And, Cogliano criticized Serino for failing to bring up the issue with the abutters sooner. Serino responded that as chairman, it was Cogliano’s responsibility.
“He wants to run the town, what a joke, this whole board’s been not too good over the last year,” Serino added.
The board is set to reconvene on Oct. 21, but will not resume the cannabis hearings until Nov. 14. Across now three nights of hearings members have yet to comment one way or another about their feelings on each applicant, though Panetta has said she is ready to take a vote.
The hearings will now pick up a week after the election, in which all five members of the board are seeking additional two-year terms.
The election also marks a pivotal moment for Cogliano’s ongoing campaign to change the town’s charter, with residents set to determine whether or not to form a Charter Commission and to elect nine members to said commission, should voters approve its formation. Cogliano, Serino, and Panetta are all candidates for a post on the commission.
