Selectman eyes Saugus forum vote reconsider

SAUGUS – Selectman Michael Kelleher plans to ask his colleagues to reconsider their vote to cancel the citizen’s forum portion of the Board of Selectmen meeting, but at least one member is sticking to his guns.Kelleher said he is unsure if the board will be able to take up the issue of the forum, since it formally adjourned during the last meeting. If that is the case, he will ask his colleagues to introduce a new motion to reinstate the forum, and he would like to move the public comment section to the beginning.Selectmen Chairman Donald Wong, along with Peter Rossetti and Stephen Castinetti, voted to end citizen’s forum last week. Selectman Stephen Horlick voted against the motion, calling it unconstitutional. Kelleher was absent from the meeting, but has since spoken out against the idea.Kelleher said he has fielded half a dozen phone calls from residents upset over the cancellation. Wong and Rossetti, however, said they haven’t received any calls.When asked if he’s received any fallout for the motion he offered, Rossetti said “only from other board members.”Rossetti said he has no plans to go back on his quest to end public comment. He maintains that any issue under public forum could be better handled under other portions of the meeting.He said ending the forum does not mean residents won’t have access to the board, but means they must be put on the agenda beforehand. Rossetti also said he found it ironic that Kelleher is so vocally against eliminating the forum, when just one year ago he supported it.Wong was clearly surprised when he heard the news that Kelleher would ask him to reconsider because he, too, was under the impression Kelleher agreed with his stance.”I really don’t know what to say to that,” he said. “I thought he agreed with us.”Kelleher said he does not remember discussing the issue with Rossetti last year and he never agreed with it this year.”Quite to the contrary,” he said. “I’ve always taken every opportunity to allow people to speak and would never consider taking away from that.”Kelleher said he doesn’t understand how Wong would think he agreed since his first words, when he heard of the vote, were, “That’s a horrible idea.”Kelleher said if the board refuses to offer a new motion, he has an alternative plan.Kelleher said he has written a bylaw that would require every public board or committee to include a public forum portion to its meetings. That would include Town Meeting and the School Committee, which discontinued its public forum two years ago during heated contract negotiations.”I realize there will be some exceptions to that,” Kelleher said. “It needs to go to (Town Counsel) John Vasapolli.”Kelleher said if there is an issue regarding Town Meeting it could be argued that the body is neither a board nor a committee.Rossetti said he would be surprised if Kelleher’s motion made it to the floor of Town Meeting.”He’s always writing motions, but he never follows through,” Rossetti said.The board meets again Thursday, but its next regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting isn’t until Dec. 18.