Town official invests $200, eyes big return
By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff, 06/25/99
Spotlight Follow-up
HANSON -- Why would Hanson town administrator Joseph F. Nugent enter the
winning bid on a sliver of town-owned lakefront land so small and so far from
the closest road that it could not be built upon? The only thing that seemed
right about the December 1996 sale was the price: Just $200.
But Nugent, with his official clout, can make things happen in town:
Charles J. Flynn, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, secretly ordered that
five adjoining town-owned parcels be added to Nugent's, giving him 14,400
square feet -- big enough to accommodate a home.
And building inspector Samuel L. Germaine also pitched in, declaring that
lots that do not have frontage on an established road can nonetheless be built
upon.
As a result, Nugent is now asking $79,900 for land he purchased for $200.
Yesterday, Nugent insisted he was owed the five extra lots because of a
clerical error by the town.
The profitable accommodation for Nugent fits a pattern uncovered by the
Globe Spotlight Team in a growing number of Massachusetts cities and towns --
local officials using their positions to benefit themselves or their friends,
sometimes in violation of state law.
Details of Nugent's deal, uncovered in real estate and town records
reviewed by the Globe, were kept secret from the other four selectmen. But the
board, after learning of the transaction from the Globe, voted Tuesday to
conduct an investigation.
``The whole thing stinks,'' said Selectwoman Cathy Kuchinski. ``It looks
like a classic backroom deal between Joe and certain officials he works
closely with. If that land is worth nearly $80,000, then the proceeds from its
sale belong in the town coffers, not Joe Nugent's pocket.''
Kuchinski, a selectwoman since 1993, said Nugent should resign ``because of
the impression he leaves that he has benefited financially from his official
position.''
Nugent, in a lengthy interview yesterday, said he assumed he was buying a
14,400-square-foot lot because an assessor's map listed the lot as that size.
When he realized the town had sold him just 2,400 square feet -- the size
listed on auction documents available to bidders -- he complained first to
town Treasurer Carole T. McCormack, who conducted the auction, then to Flynn.
``There were mistakes made by the town and I acted as a private businessman
looking out for my own financial interest,'' he said. ``Some honest mistakes
were made -- they were not contrived, there was no conspiracy, no hidden
agenda.
``I put no undue pressure or coercion on anyone,'' he said. ``I did talk to
Charlie [Flynn]. I think he felt he got a fair explanation of what happened
from me.''
Nugent is paid $72,700 a year as executive secretary to the Board of
Selectmen and, since 1985, has functioned as a town administrator,
supervising employees on behalf of the selectmen, with whom Nugent meets at
twice-monthly meetings.
There is other evidence that Nugent is speculating in land in Hanson, a
largely rural community about 20 miles southeast of Boston. The Globe has
copies of letters he wrote -- one signed as executive secretary -- seeking to
buy odd lots around town in the name of real estate trusts, which do not
require that the owner be publicly identified.
Nugent acknowledged that he receives advance notice of parcels to be
auctioned because of his position. And he admitted that he sometimes
researches real estate records during town business hours.
What's more, auction records show other transactions that may involve
Nugent -- at least one of them involving a parcel his son bought at auction
under questionable circumstances.
Nugent, 51, is a former Milton police officer who was sentenced to two
years in jail in 1977 for his role in the theft of $25,000 in liquor and
cigarettes from a Dorchester liquor store.
The parcel of land Nugent purchased was at first deeded to him as a mere
2,400 square feet -- by town standards an unbuildable lot of negligible value;
hence, its $200 price.
But 18 months later, Nugent said he confronted McCormack, insisted she
erred in the way she advertised the auction, and told her he intended to press
his case that he was entitled to all six lots listed on the assessor's map.
But McCormack's paperwork was explicit: Her official notice of sale listed
the town's clear intent to auction 2,400 square feet, not 14,400. Moreover,
her advertisement made no reference to the current assessor's map, on which
Nugent says he relied. Instead, the ad cited a map kept by assessors when the
land was taken by the town due to nonpayment of taxes a half-century ago. Back
then, the lot was listed as 2,400 square feet, according to real estate and
town records reviewed by the Globe.
McCormack at first rebuffed Nugent, according to Nugent, but ultimately she
was ordered by Selectman Flynn, then board chairman, to deed over the other
five lots to Nugent.
``Charlie Flynn wrote to me instructing me to deed it,'' McCormack said in
an interview. ``I do what I am told. I did nothing illegal.''
But Flynn contradicted McCormack, insisting that McCormack had already
concluded that Nugent should be deeded the larger piece of property by the
time she first approached him.
Flynn said Nugent had talked to him about his predicament, but that it
wasn't Nugent who persuaded him to authorize the second deed. He admitted he
did no research on the matter and never raised it with the four other board
members. ``I don't know why I didn't,'' he said. ``Perhaps I should have.''
State ethics law forbid public officials from seeking or accepting anything
worth more than $50 from anyone with whom they have official dealings, or from
using their official positions to benefit themselves.
Among the two dozen properties sold by the town at the three auctions
conducted since 1995, Nugent's purchase of lot 2066 stands out for its
stunning potential profit. But there are others that are questionable:
- In 1998, Nugent's son, Mark E. Nugent, successfully bid $3,300 on a
25,000-square-foot lot, which, as a buildable lot, is worth about $50,000.
While McCormack established a minimum bid of $5,000 on a much smaller
buildable lot, no minimum was set for the lot Nugent purchased. He later
deeded it to a trust that has another town official -- Zoning Board of Appeal
member Edward V. Casey -- as trustee.
- In 1996, Thomas Young paid $900 for a 10,000-square-foot lot that he sold
for a nominal amount to a trust, of which Edward V. Casey was trustee. Young's
sale to the trust was notarized by an assistant town clerk. The trust then
sold the property for $45,000 to a contractor who built a house on it.
Though Casey is the trustee for the trust that owned the
10,000-square-foot lot, the beneficiaries of the trust are not publicly
identified. The elder Nugent denied being a beneficiary of the trust.
These three lots -- Joseph Nugent's and the two in trusts headed by Casey
-- all benefited from an abrupt change in policy at Town Hall concerning lots
located on so-called paper streets, which are drawn on a plan recorded at the
Registry of Deeds but have never been built.
Town planner Noreen O'Toole said a town zoning bylaw gives the Planning
Board authority over applications for building permits on paper streets.
She said the Planning Board's insistence on well-constructed -- and
expensive -- roads to ensure easy access for emergency vehicles and proper
drainage had the effect of discouraging owners of single lots on such paper
streets from seeking board permission to build.
But in 1998, about the same time Nugent acquired the five additional lots
and his son bought a building lot, building inspector Germaine decided it was
his prerogative to decide such questions and began issuing building permits
for such lots.
Efforts to contact Germaine were unsuccessful.
HOW TO CONTACT SPOTLIGHT
The Globe Spotlight Team can be reached at (617) 929-3208.
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at (617) 929-7483.
The e-mail address is spotlight@globe.com
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