Horlick seeks oversight of Saugus manager Bisignani

SAUGUS-Selectman Stephen Horlick is calling for the board to set up goals and objectives for Town Manager Andrew Bisignani in the new year.”We need to set up six-month, one-year and two-year goals and objectives for the Town Manager,” he told his colleagues during last week’s meeting. “We need a multi-year plan and we need to tell him what we expect him to do.”When Horlick put the statement in the form of a motion, initially no one seconded it. Selectman Michael Kelleher finally seconded the issue, but when the issue went to a vote it passed with little enthusiasm. Board members made barely audible responses and looked away.Horlick said the following day he didn’t understand his colleague’s reactions.”What’s wrong with setting goals? We got a management letter with a number of things that need to be done,” he said, referring to the management letter that accompanied the fiscal year end audit.The letter outlines more than a dozen issues that the auditing company recommended be dealt with over the next year.Some of the issues are large, such as segregating the water and sewer bills, closely monitoring Kasabuski Arena and collapsing the landfill enterprise account. Others were smaller jobs, such as making backup copies of town records to store offsite and discussing fraud policies with employees.Horlick said he would like to see the issues prioritized and tackled in small bunches.”Take care of the financial ones by July and work on the rest,” he said.The idea for an evaluation is not new. The School Committee has set goals for the superintendent in the past and evaluates him fairly regularly.In September 2006, the committee rated Superintendent Keith Manville in seven different categories. He received a 4.0, which exceeded expectations.Horlick said he is looking to implement a similar plan for Bisignani.”It shouldn’t be a big deal,” he said.Bisignani was not at the meeting and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.