An ongoing challenge: Saugus continues its struggle to hire and keep Planning & Economic Development Department staff

By Mark E. Vogler

SAUGUS – The municipal budget passed by the Annual Town Meeting in May included $225,593 to pay two full-time professionals in the Department of Planning and Economic Development. But with one month gone in the 2025 Fiscal Year, the Economic Development Coordinator and Town Planner positions are vacant.

The town’s former Director of Planning and Economic Development, Christopher Reilly, quit his job abruptly a month ago and shortly after took the planning director’s job in Middleton – a town one third the size of Saugus – for substantially less money. Reilly, who lasted close to four years, had filled a crucial Town Hall position that had been vacant for 33 months at the time of his hiring. Reilly had been working solo in the two-man department since August of 2021 when Senior Planner Alexander Mello left to take a position as planning director/planner in the Town of Windham, N.H. Prior to Mello’s hiring, the two jobs had been vacant for 18 months.

Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree told the Board of Selectmen at a recent goals and objectives session that filling both vacancies remains a top priority for him. “We have a lot of development and we don’t have the technical help here,” Crabtree said.

“A lot of people are applying that don’t have the experience,” the town manager said.

But Crabtree said he recently offered the job to two qualified candidates. In both cases, they accepted positions in other communities.

Crabtree suggested that perhaps Saugus’ reputation of having tough politics could be a contributing factor to hiring and keeping good people in the Planning and Economic Development Department. “I think that people look at things going on,” Crabtree said.

At least two of the three selectmen who responded to a Saugus Advocate email this week said they believe that a combination of local politics and social media may be discouraging qualified candidates from accepting a position in Saugus. “As discussed by the Town Manager during [July’s] Board of Selectmen update meeting, two separate candidates were recently offered a role in the Planning Department, but declined and accepted positions in other communities, Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta said.

“Unfortunately, when the town welcomes new employees there is usually a news story followed by negative social media posts that do not make an employee feel very welcome,” Panetta said.

“My hope is we can work together as a community to maintain stability and stay the course for the town and our residents. And furthermore, to minimize the negativity so that we can attract highly motivated, experienced, and qualified individuals, as well as maintain our current great employees,” she said.

Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Jeff Cicolini echoed Panetta’s comments. He noted that the town manager has interviewed several potential candidates recently. “Unfortunately, the experience has been that once it comes down to their accepting our offer vs. one from another community they choose to go elsewhere,” Cicolini said.

“Our compensation level is in line with other communities so what could be the other deciding factors? Safe to assume the toxic political atmosphere in Saugus and constant criticism from folks involved in our town on social media are not helping. People do their research before accepting a new position and social media plays a pivotal role in someone’s decision making process,” Cicolini said. “When they go on community pages and note the negativity and constant bashing, it doesn’t take much to make one think twice about coming here to work. As I stated before, we need to stop this negativity and unite as a community for the greater good of Saugus. I am not saying everyone will agree on everything, but there is a way to agree to disagree without getting personal or without being rude. I am hopeful our community can embrace coming together to make Saugus an attractive location for potential employees.”

Selectman Riley recommends exit interview

Selectman Corinne Riley stressed that the town manager is solely responsible for hiring the town’s employees. “I am confident that he focuses on vetting the most highly qualified people for these positions,” Riley said.

“I am not sure if the town initiates exit interviews, but I think it would be helpful to address reoccurring reasons for those looking for employment elsewhere,” she said.

“Hiring and retaining talented professionals is difficult and can be very expensive. Not doing so can be even more expensive in terms of missed opportunity and increased costs,” she said.

Having good staff involved in planning and economic development is crucial to having a well-run town, according to Riley. “Planning and Economic Development are extremely important to any town. Regarding Planning, we need experienced professionals to help guide implementation of our Master Plan,” Riley said.

“They would research options and present recommendations for our town’s critical needs like a West Side Fire Station, additional cemetery space, best uses for our vacant school properties, improve zoning, open space, recreational areas, and more,” she said.

“Regarding Economic Development, we need professionals to improve the situation on Route 1. The days of relying strictly on retail to keep Route 1 vibrant are over, and we need professionals to guide the transformation from retail to other uses that have minimal impact on town resources, like a medical facility or professional space. We need Economic Development professionals to guide the revitalization of Cliftondale Square.”

Ex-Planning and Economic Development Director talks

In a brief telephone interview with The Saugus Advocate, Reilly said he agreed that town officials should be doing exit interviews. He noted that nobody on the Board of Selectmen reached out to him after he quit the job.

Reilly said he “resigned effective immediately” because of job-related frustrations. He declined to elaborate.

“I came to Saugus with a real good track record, but things didn’t work out for me,” Reilly said.

“I got some things done, but it was extremely hard-fought. The fundamental question people should be asking is, ‘Why aren’t things working in Saugus?’ That’s what needs to be looked at,” Reilly said.

Does Reilly have any advice to town officials on how to improve the situation? “Hang in there. You have some good tools in place. Wait for the opportunities, but don’t let them slip away,” he said.

“I wish them the best and hope they figure it out,” he said.

Reilly said working solo without a planner wasn’t the major obstacle he faced. “This isn’t about me. It’s about what happened to the planning function. They wanted things to change, but they weren’t prepared to make things happen,” he said.

Town will use consultants to fill the void

Debra Panetta said it is important to have “experienced and engaged Planning and Economic Development support for the town with an understanding of the needs and concerns of Saugus’ residents.”

“The town uses outside consultant firms to assist in these services as the town works on filling open positions in the Planning Department. The Town Manager with the support of the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, and Town Meeting has allocated and expanded the funding resources and staffing levels within the Planning Department to help attract candidates and to ensure that the town’s best interests are protected,” she said.

Cicolini called the Planning and Economic Development Department “a critical component of our town’s planned growth.”

“The importance of filling these positions is evidenced by the resources committed to each of the positions from both a budgetary and recruiting perspective,” he said.

Selectmen Michael Serino and Anthony Cogliano declined to comment on the situation in the Planning and Economic Development Department or recommend what the town could do to improve the situation.

Planning Board Member Robert Long, who is also a Precinct 4 Town Meeting member and a longtime participant in Saugus local government, suggested that the town manager consider enlisting help from a small group of local officials during the interview and screening process. “It’s the manager’s task to find somebody,” Long said.

“But I think he might consider bringing in some people – such as a couple of selectmen and a couple of Planning Board members – to meet the candidates. If we have some people who are being interviewed, bring in a few people who have been there for a while to explain what our needs are and what our expectations are for the town,” he said.

Long also expressed concerns that the manager could be in a situation “where he’s being undercut by people with other motives.”

“Unfortunately, some people have a negative impression of Saugus and I don’t think they should,” Long said.

Whatever the town manager decides to do, he should consider help if he needs it because the positions need to be filled, according to Long. “Issues are becoming cumbersome and more difficult to deal with and if you keep having this turnover, you lose the continuity of the office [Planning and Economic Development] and the office loses the ability to see what the community wants to be,” Long said. “And that knowledge is priceless. We need to have people to come in and stay a while and get comfortable.”