SAUGUS – Since the debacle in the cemetery the Tree Committee has felt like Rodney Dangerfield – getting no respect.While cleaning up the small veterans’ cemetery in Saugus Center workers took down a stand of trees, igniting a small firestorm. The incident is considered by most to be an accident due to miscommunication but for the Tree Committee it’s been a slap in the face.Committee member Ann Devlin said it makes the committee’s work seem for naught. Devlin said the committee has spent countless hours toward getting a tree replacement program started so the town wouldn’t lose trees and yet incidents like the one in the cemetery undermines the program.”I feel the Tree Committee has spent unnecessary time and resources,” she said.Devlin also pointed out that Town Meeting, of which she is a member; just passed a shade tree bylaw that once enacted contains strict guidelines for public trees and their removal. After being approved by Town Meeting in June the bylaw went to the Attorney General’s office for approval.”We’re still waiting for the Attorney General to rule but town officials should have been very aware of it and should have met with the tree warden,” she said.Devlin was quick to add she has nothing but respect for Tree Warden Tim Wendell and was only sorry he was on vacation when the incident took place.Department of Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato is none to happy with the incident either nor with the repair job made.”They put in a stockade fence,” he said. “It’s disgusting; it doesn’t go with the cemetery. It’s too bad but I think it was all just a miscommunication.”Al DiNardo, however, thinks the incident is indicative of the way committees in town are treated in general. The Town Meeting member said he is actually thinking about leaving the committees on which he serves, which includes the Tree Committee and the Sidewalk Committee.”I hate to say that, but it’s how I feel,” he said.Aside from having the Tree Committee’s shade tree bylaw pushed aside he said he also feels that he had to push to get $150,000 approved by Town Meeting, which he did last spring. The money will go toward, as DiNardo put it, essentially getting the town to obey the law by installing handicap sidewalk ramps.He said he also feels town officials should be more sensitive to the cemetery issue. He said those in charge, such as department heads and even Town Manager Andrew Bisignani, should have been aware of what was going on.”The manager lives out of town but we have to live with his decisions,” he said.Town Moderator Robert Long, who is often in charge of appointing committees, said he disagrees with DiNardo’s assessments of disrespect.”I don’t believe that’s true at all,” he said. “Look at the Sidewalk Committee, which he also serves on, I think they get a great deal of respect. They had a great deal of input on how we spent Chapter 90 (highway) money.”He also pointed out that the Affordable Housing Committee and the Wind Power Committee were both bringing forth good, honest efforts in the best interest of the community.”Disrespected? Absolutely not,” he said. “I think the committees have huge respect . . . and I really think the cemetery was an isolated incident.”