Saugus mulls constable board

SAUGUS – Selectmen Michael Kelleher has asked his colleagues to consider naming a two-person board to look into the issue of constables.The number of existing constables versus the number of constables needed has long been a point of contention for some board members.”One of the biggest questions is how many is too many and do we have a right to say how many is enough,” Kelleher said.The argument is generally that with 24, Saugus already has enough constables.Ed Bukrich bore the brunt of the issue last month when the board denied his request to be number 25.Kelleher said he voted to support the appointment largely because the town does not have a policy restricting the number of constables. When Stephen Castinetti voted against it, Kelleher said he approached him about working on the committee.”I voted yes and he voted no,” Kelleher said. “I said I voted yes because there is no policy but we are the policy-making board, so let’s discuss setting a policy.”Nicola Nicosia, who was named honorary town constable two years ago, has been working on the board for several years to lower the number of constables.He was pleasantly surprised when he heard Kelleher’s motion to form the committee.”You know how many constables there were when I started,” he asked. “Two, and I made three.”Nicosia said he believes the town still only needs three constables, five at best.Kelleher did not say if writing a new bylaw would be included as a charge of the new committee.”In essence it will be two people reporting back to the board on which direction we should go,” he said.He said he felt there was too much confusion over whether requests appoint and re-appoint constables should be or would be honored. He said he didn’t even know what to tell people when they asked.Selectman Stephen Horlick said he had no issue with Kelleher’s request, but wondered if a two-person committee was allowable.”I would check with Town Counsel to make sure we can do just a two member board,” he said.