Bisignani upset over traffic cop restriction

SAUGUS – Town Manager Andrew Bisignani got essentially what he wanted Monday night but he is still disappointed.Town Meeting voted to allow the town to hire a parking officer but it came with a two-year restriction and an attack by one Town Meeting member.Bisignani said he didn’t appreciate Precinct 3 Town Meeting member Maureen Dever’s attempt to shoot down the article and called her argument absurd.Dever asked her colleagues to vote down the article because she felt passing it was a trip down a slippery slope. The Police Department is down 10 officers and she said she viewed the article as a revenue raiser.She faulted Bisignani for having no will to rebuild the department and instead would take powers away from the department and hand them to a civilian parking officer.Bisignani said Tuesday it’s not that he doesn’t have the will to rebuild the department it’s that he doesn’t have the resources.”Should we not take a step forward for public safety?” he asked. “She said there’s no will to rebuild-that’s just absurd.”Bisignani said the fact is the Police Department has other more important issues to chase down than parking violators but at the same time the violators still need to be dealt with.Last year Bisignani made K-9 Officer Harold Young a parking officer. He was given strict guidelines in which to work and was to hand out tickets only during his down time as a dog officer.The setup lasted just about one year until a grievance filed by the Patrolman’s Union was settled in the union’s favor.Bisignani also said he wasn’t happy with the restriction added to the article that only allows the town to hire a parking officer for two years.”The Finance Committee recommended it as written,” he said. “I view this as obstructionist government. They’re micromanaging in pursuit of an agenda by attempting to curtail and restrict an effort put forth in the best interest of the residents.”Town Meeting member Peter Manoogian, who put forth the amendment, disagreed.Manoogian said his only aim at restricting the article was so it would eventually come back to Town Meeting for a review. His goal, he added, was that it would not turn into a situation where an outside company was hired to come in, issue the fines and walk away with a percentage of the take.He also said, “I felt the Town Manager needed some oversight. He’s been wrong before.”Initially Bisignani said he didn’t think the restriction would hold water with the Attorney General’s office but Town Counsel John Vasapolli confirmed for him Tuesday that it would.However, it cannot be implemented until the entire closed warrant is cleared by the Attorney General’s office, which likely won’t be until sometime in July at the earliest.Once that happens, Bisignani said he would happily hand K-9 Officer Harold Young back his citation book.Bisignani said Dever might believe the article is simply a revenue raising issue but he wondered what is wrong with that.”We’re only targeting people who are breaking the law,” he said. “There is no logic in her argument.”