Horlick in dark over FBI probe in Saugus

SAUGUS – Selectman Stephen Horlick called for a meeting regarding the federal investigation in town but claims his colleagues are uninterested.His colleagues, however, claim Horlick is essentially grandstanding because he is out of the loop.Upon hearing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Inspector General’s Office were in town asking questions and interviewing various town employees and officials, Horlick said he began asking questions. He said he first asked to sit down with Town Manager Andrew Bisignani to find out why the town was being investigated.Horlick said he asked his colleagues to hang out for a minute following Wednesday’s sewer commission meeting to discuss the issue, but no one wanted to stay. He said that surprised him given the fact they are Bisignani’s bosses.Bisignani said he is unclear of the exact nature of the investigation, but it seems to be focusing on the purchase of town-owned vehicles back to 2002. He said he has been gathering requested information and has instructed all employees to cooperate with any FBI requests.”He’s in charge of the day-to-day operations of the town and if the day-to-day operations are coming into question . . . the board looks to him to tell us what’s going on,” Horlick said.Selectman Stephen Castinetti said Horlick is playing a political game he is not willing to join.Castinetti said he’s been discussing the FBI investigation regularly with Bisignani for several weeks. He said he has not commented on the issue because the FBI is in the midst of the investigation and because he didn’t want to get the public riled up.”I wanted to do it quietly, but if something inappropriate is going on, I’ll deal with it,” Castinetti said. “Even if it means going out to look for a new town manager . . . I’m not afraid to tackle the tough issues.”Castinetti quickly added that he has no reason to believe Bisignani is involved in the investigation, he was simply illustrating how invested he is in correcting any inappropriate action.Horlick admitted that Bisignani offered to meet with him after the meeting and Michael Kelleher offered to sit in as well.”I said I didn’t want to meet one on one and I told Kelleher ‘I’m not going in with you,'” Horlick said. “I want (Bisignani) to sit down with the whole board and openly discuss this across the table. This is too big an issue for us to talk to him one-on-one.”Chairman Donald Wong said he too has met regularly with Bisignani and feels comfortable with his explanation of events.”I don’t want more rumors,” he said. “I would prefer to let the FBI do their job. I would rather have their unbiased report.”Kelleher said he appreciated Horlick’s desire to know what’s going on but he didn’t understand why he didn’t simply speak with Bisignani.”I rarely agree to go into executive session on anything so I certainly wouldn’t do it on this,” Kelleher said.Peter Rossetti said he agreed the issue was important but he thought a meeting Wednesday was premature.”We don’t know anything other than some people have been talked to, so what would we talk about,” he said.Horlick dismissed his colleagues as being out of hand.”Shouldn’t this have come to the board in a memo,” he asked. “All I want to do is sit in a room and have him tell us what’s going on.”