Countdown Till Saugus Town Meeting

Editor’s Note: The 2025 Annual Town Meeting convenes next Monday, May 5. As a special service to our readers and the registered voters of Saugus, we have reached out to all 50 Town Meeting members, focusing on one precinct each week, in the weeks leading up to the start of Town Meeting, asking members about their expectations for the upcoming Town Meeting. This week, we received responses from three of the five Town Meeting Members in Precinct 10. Today concludes our 10-part series.

Question One: What do you consider the top priority for the town as you prepare for the opening of the 2025 Town Meeting session?

Martin Costello: As to my top priority going into this years’ Town Meeting, I have always been cognizant of the need for the Town of Saugus to do everything it can by way of its’ management and its’ financial and budgetary obligations to secure its’ beneficial bond rating. There are many other cities and towns in this Commonwealth that do not possess such a luxury! As is the case with every ensuing fiscal year, this one being no different, inflationary pressures and economic uncertainties arise that must be addressed and a financially sound construct in any city or towns’ government, is paramount to that municipality’s being able to provide for all of the necessary elements to that city or towns’ governance & stability! Saugus has been such a place for some time now and I hope for it to remain so for years to come!

Peter Manoogian: Saugus is a full-service community. Maintaining those services for the citizens and businesses of Saugus has been and will continue to be my goal as a Saugus Town Meeting member. Gone are the days of negative free cash when the Essex Street Fire Station, the Library, and other services were constantly threatened by fiscal mismanagement. Relative to service delivery issues, I will not support any effort to establish a “trash fee” for Saugus homeowners.

Carla Scuzzarella: As always, the top priority for the Town should be improving the quality of life and services for our citizens. The Town should continue to support the investment that has been made in enhancing our Public Schools as well as strengthening our Public Safety services.

Question Two: What do you consider the top priority for residents in your precinct (Precinct 10) as you prepare for the opening of the 2025 Town Meeting session?

Martin Costello: The top priority for the residents here in Precinct 10 continues to be twofold at this time. One: the ever confrontational situation with the Win/Waste facility over here in the Rumney Marsh. To delve into the long history of what those difficulties and disagreements have been for years now, would make this answer, to take on epic proportions! The second is as to the issue of flooding in many parts now within this Precinct. I believe there are some means to ameliorate this, but they will be costly unless we are able to secure some semblance of Federal monies to effectuate it.

Peter Manoogian: The top priority for Precinct 10 will be how to best face the chronic environmental issues such as more frequent flooding and the desire of WIN Waste to double the height of its unlined ash landfill to 100 feet. A plan was brought forth to revisit the floodgate project first proposed over 30 years ago which would stop the destructive floods that have occurred with increasing frequency. Although Saugus took the lead in this and was willing to fund its share of a study, our state delegation has not followed through with a coordinated effort to have the state provide matching funds for the study.

Relative to WIN Waste’s efforts to interfere in Saugus elections and to groom a narrative that will encourage Saugus to accept lower performance standards that are not accepted anywhere else in Massachusetts or the United States, Precinct 10 sent a strong message to candidates for Selectmen that “fell on the sword” for WIN Waste’s desire to dump more ash for another 20 years.

Carla Scuzzarella: The top priorities for the residents of Precinct 10 remain the closure of the WIN unlined Ash Landfill and flood mitigation. At last year’s Town Meeting, an Ash Landfill Closure Committee was created and will report their work to the Town Meeting. There are health risks for all residents of Saugus, not just those who live in Precinct 10, posed by the unlined Ash Landfill and WIN wanting to increase the height. The on-going flooding related to the climate changes (rising tides and more powerful storms) taking place are directly impacting the homes, businesses and quality of life for those residents of the area closest to the Saugus River. An additional issue that is of concern to residents of Precinct 10 is the property at 206 Lincoln Avenue. The direct abutters and surrounding neighborhood on both sides of Lincoln Avenue remain extremely concerned about the future of this property. The condemned building was recently demolished but the residents continue to have discussions concerning the impact of redevelopment and drainage issues for the area.

Question Three: Are you working independently or in collaboration with other members on articles to be introduced for this year’s Town Meeting? Could you please elaborate? Summarize your article and what you hope to accomplish.

Martin Costello: I am not working definitively with my colleagues at the moment, however we have been sporadically working together to ascertain the “final” disposition of the now demolished Amatos Liquor Store on Lincoln Avenue. Frankly, it has been and continues to be an eyesore along this section of Lincoln Avenue and I hope that, if and when we get to see what proposals are afoot for this parcel, it will be met with the approval of all the abutters to this land and it will NOT be exacerbating the already problematical flooding situations that exist in this area of Precinct 10!

Peter Manoogian: Yes, four Precinct 10 Town Meeting Members communicate regularly on matters affecting the Precinct. One example is the pending development of the old Amato’s Liquor property on Lincoln Avenue. We hope to engage the owner in a discussion about the use of that property that would be beneficial to him as well as the neighbors. We also stood in unison to support revisiting the flood gate project and convinced the Board of Selectmen and the Town Manager that this project is necessary. Unfortunately our state delegation has not followed through with a funding proposal placing a higher priority on funding a soccer stadium for Everett.

The Ash Landfill Closure Committee is another example of collaboration between four Precinct 10 members and Selectmen Debra Panetta and Michael Serino. We look forward to sharing our findings during the “reports of committees” at the Annual Town Meeting.

Carla Scuzzarella: I am not working on any articles either independently or collaboratively at this time.

Question Four: Please feel free to share any other views about the upcoming Town Meeting.

Martin Costello: This is my 3rd term as a Saugus Town Meeting member and it has been a most interesting and for the most part an enjoyable experience. I have been honored to have served with all of my fellow Town Meeting Members over this period of time. Come Monday, May 5th, we will all gather once again at Saugus Town Hall to discuss & deliberate upon all of the Articles that are on both the Annual and the two Special Town Meetings’ docket this year! As always, I remain confident that Town Meeting will reach consensus on all of these Articles and the Town of Saugus will subsequently have smooth sailing for itself, in this impending fiscal year, once again.

Peter Manoogian: In my opinion there will be two elephants in the room at the 2025 Annual Town Meeting. The first will be the school budget which, as proposed by the Manager and the Selectmen, cannot sustain the level of spending as well as the demands of the teacher’s union to fund a new contract.

Additionally, the School Committee has failed to disclose how much the McMahon arbitration award will cost and how they propose to fund that settlement. Will it be paid in one fiscal year? Will the School Committee seek to pay extra to McMahon to have the award funded over a series of years? Will Town Meeting allow the School Committee to maintain this as secret? This was an award by an arbitrator and not a court judgement and therefore is not shielded from public disclosure. Hopefully the Finance Committee will request this information and provide this information to the Town Meeting.

The second issue will be how Town Meeting allows itself to be used by those among the body seeking higher office in November. There will undoubtedly be “political gimmicks” and self-serving initiatives to set the stage for the upcoming election by proposing solutions to problems that do not exist.

Carla Scuzzarella: I am looking forward to once again discussing the many articles and budget items being put forward to better our Town for the coming fiscal year. I take a great deal of pride in representing my fellow residents of Precinct 10, conveying their interests, concerns, and viewpoints as we strive to keep our Town moving forward in a positive direction.