Citizen’s forum back in Saugus – just briefly

SAUGUS – The Board of Selectmen had its first challenge to its new rules regulating the citizen forum when more than 50 mobile home residents came asking for help and essentially it passed the test.But resident Janice Jarosz said she would continue to circulate her petition, now signed by more than 250 residents, asking the board to reinstate the older and more spontaneous version of citizen’s forum.Selectmen voted 3-1 in December to require residents who wish to appear before them to call, write, e-mail or fax a request to be put on the agenda under correspondence in advance of the meeting.Jarosz argued that by hearing out the mobile home park residents, the board proved her point for the need for citizen’s forum.”Those people were not on the agenda,” she said. “How did they appear before you? You guys broke the law tonight. I went through the right channels.”Selectman Stephen Horlick called the hearing an emergency correspondence, while his colleague Steve Castinetti said the board had to show humanity and compassion.”To tell them they would have to come back in two weeks would just not be right,” he said. “But a lot of issues are not as important as that.”Jarosz told Castinetti that while everyone’s concerns might not seem as important to him, they are certainly just as important in the eye of the beholder.”In your opinion they’re not as important, but everyone thinks their own issue is the most important issue,” she said.Jarosz said the residents who signed her petition aren’t looking “to make a big stink” and want to work with the board, but also want to see citizen’s forum reinstated.Castinetti reminded Jarosz that the new procedure would be reviewed in early April.”This is only the second meeting under the new format,” he said.Jarosz asked if the board would hold a public hearing on the issue and Castinetti said “it could certainly,” but did not say it would.”I’ll continue to gather signatures and I’ll see you in three months,” Jarosz said.Following Jarosz, Apple Lane resident Larry Truesdale asked to speak on the same issue, but was denied.Selectman Chairman Donald Wong said the correspondence was between Jarosz and the board, but Truesdale argued that Jarosz ceded the floor to him.”I am upset,” Truesdale said following the incident. “This is exactly why they need citizen’s forum. He shouldn’t have shut me down. I wanted to speak.”