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By Mark E. Vogler
Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Elizabeth Marchese offered “a compromise” amendment that included several major changes to her non-binding resolution to secure a Host Community Agreement (HCA) with WIN Waste Innovations regarding compensation to the town for potential expansion of the ash landfill near its trash-to-energy plant on Route 107. In addressing her colleagues Monday night (May 11) during the second session of this year’s Annual Town Meeting, Marchese said her amendment would make Article 34 “clearer, narrower and more responsible.”
“It recognizes that the town must be prepared and protected under either realistic scenario, whether the ash landfill continues to operate or whether it ultimately closes,” Marchese said, reading from a written statement.
“The amendment assures that any Host Community agreement can address both outcomes, including closure funding and financial assurances, long-term environmental monitoring, remediation obligations, infrastructure impacts and long-term taxpayer protection,” she continued. “The article remains a non-binding resolution regarding the exploration and negotiation of a Host Community Agreement. This amendment simply clarifies intent, strengthening protections for the town and assures the article addresses the full range of realistic outcomes facing Saugus.”
Several Town Meeting members expressed support for the amended resolution. But Precinct 10 Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian, a longtime critic of the trash-to-energy plant on Route 107, read a lengthy speech urging his colleagues to defeat the resolution. “This is a bad deal for public health,” Manoogian said.
“If you vote ‘yes’ on this resolution you are endorsing emission standards that are proven to exacerbate asthma and respiratory ailments. If you vote ‘yes,’ you are sending a message to the Saugus Board of Health that you are OK with higher NOx emissions,” he said.
The contentious debate over the controversial resolution ended abruptly before it could reach a “yes” or “no” vote when Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Jeanie Bartolo made a motion to return the article to its maker (Marchese). “The amendments, they’re just too confusing,” Bartolo said of the 10-page handout that Marchese passed out to members.
“No one has time to study them and I really think that you should send the whole article 34 back to the maker,” she said.
Members voted 29-18 in support of Bartolo’s motion.
Among those testifying against Marchese’s resolution was Selectman Jeff Cicolini, who three years ago was one of the selectmen who voted 3-2 in a non-binding vote in support of a Host Community Agreement as a precautionary measure in case the state weakens environmental regulations related to the landfill. Saugus would receive $20 million over 20 years while WIN Waste could continue use of the ash landfill, according to the hypothetical HCA supported by a majority of the selectmen. “I’m one of the guilty three selectmen who agreed to the terms of the previous aforementioned agreement,” Cicolini told Town Meeting members.
“I for one don’t trust the state. Do I support expansion? Absolutely not. Do I want it to expand? No I don’t. But why, after nine extensions, do we think all of a sudden they’re not going to change legislation and allow it to happen again? They need some place to put trash. I don’t trust the state. If I can’t trust the state, I want protections in place,” Cicolini said.
Cicolini urged Town Meeting members not to support the article, “because right now is not the time.”
“Let’s hope the state stands by their word. Let’s hope that they don’t allow future expansion,” he added.
“But if they do change the legislation and they do allow expansion, then it goes to our Board of Health. Then our town manager would work with the Board of Health. They’ll come up with collective terms. We’ll negotiate a Host Community Agreement at that time,” he said. “We have the leverage. It is our Board of Health that can make the decision to move forward or not. And at that time, it would be appropriate to have our town manager negotiate a Host Community Agreement. So, although I agree in principle with the need for a Host Community agreement, I do not believe the current time is the right time.”
The informal HCA that Cicolini and Selectman Anthony Cogliano and then-Selectman Corinne Riley supported has no legal basis, under state law and under the Town of Saugus Charter. Furthermore, any HCA would have to be negotiated by the town manager and wouldn’t take effect unless the state allows the company to expand its ash landfill. If the state loosens the regulations at the ash landfill, the Board of Health would have authority to conduct site modification hearings to ultimately decide whether and how expansion of the ash landfill would proceed.
During his speech, Manoogian insisted that the town already has an HCA, as he held up a 1984 agreement. He also referred to a 1994 clarifying agreement negotiated by then-Town Manager Edward Collins. “This was long, hard, diligent work by Ed Collins that resulted in Saugus receiving 3.2 million dollars in yearly tax revenue on the structure of the incinerator…yes the structure…not the land,” Manoogian said.
“The clarifying agreement also makes clear that if the Wheelabrator property is used for an alternative purpose, it will be taxed at the fair cash value for such use, without decreasing the taxes or payment in lieu of taxes otherwise due in connection with the RESCO facility and the Agreement.
“You see, Ed Collins, like all of us, was told that the ash landfill was to close in 1996. He agreed that all 8 parcels owned by the company totaling 295.89 acres would NOT be taxed on their actual value. Those parcels, according to our Assessing Department, are valued at $6,244,200. That is a land value of $21,000 per acre.
“Right next door we now have the UPS facility on 9.4 acres. That is valued at $21,622,000 now, yielding $460,116.00 in tax revenue for FY26. That is $48,949.00 per acre compared to the $449.00 per acre that WIN is paying for its parcels.”
Jenna Nuzzo was the lone Town Meeting Member from Precinct 10 who supported the amendment to Article 34.
Nuzzo noted that part of Town Meeting’s authority is “protecting the Town of Saugus.”
“And that is exactly what this amendment strengthens. Because regardless of anyone’s personal feelings about WIN, this amendment now ensures the town is discussing protections related to environmental impacts, future remediation, infrastructure concerns, operational impacts, redevelopment possibilities and taxpayer stabilization under multiple future outcomes. That’s not endorsement. It’s contingency planning,” she said.
And if the facility poses environmental or public health concerns, “then negotiating stronger protections and safeguards for residents should not be controversial. You do not protect residents by opposing protections. That makes no logical sense,” she said.
