Saugus gas station cleanup draws ire

SAUGUS – Town Manager Andrew Bisignani has come under fire from a handful of residents for using town resources to clean up private property.Bisignani said during a recent Selectmen meeting that he sent Department of Public Works employees to the abandoned Exxon Station at the corner of The Lynn Fells Parkway and Main Street to do a little clean up. It was a statement that wrought several phone calls and letters complaining that Bisignani was using money that could be spent otherwise, such as on street sweeping.”All we did was a little work,” Bisignani said. “We didn’t spend more than an hour there – it was nothing exorbitant.”Bisignani said he used summer help to mow the grass, cut back brush and clean up trash. He said he felt the cleanup was incumbent upon the town to make the property safe. The trash and long grass, he said, attracts rodents and neighbors shouldn’t have to deal with the growing eyesore.The defunct station has been a sore spot with Selectman Michael Kelleher who has urged Bisignani to do something with the lot. However, the property is privately owned and as long as the building is secure, which Bisignani said it is, there is little he can do.As for the clean up, Bisignani said he didn’t think it was unreasonable.”We would do that on a public street anyway,” he said. “Islands are maintained by volunteers – it’s all apart of the beautification of the town.”Bisignani said he would also seek to recoup any money spent on the property when the land is next developed.”We’ll put a note in the file,” he said. “We’re just trying to make the town look presentable.”As for the street sweeping, Bisignani pointed out it was the Finance Committee that recommended cutting that from the budget and Town Meeting agreed.”I was always a fan of street sweeping, but it was eliminated from the budget,” he said.