Saugus charter board to continue hearing

SAUGUS – The Charter Commission will pick up tonight where it left off last week with its final public forum.The commission opened the forum last week but, when discussion on the document that could change the way the town is governed ran long, it voted to continue the hearing to tonight beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium.This week the focus will be on hearing from the general counsel for the state Ethics Commission who agreed to discuss how the state’s conflict of interest laws would affect the town under the proposed charter.Commission Chairman Peter Manoogian said it seemed to be the topic most residents wanted to discuss.”At our public forums and during our public hearing we have had several questions come up about the implications of having the conflict of interest law apply to the assembly as well as the prohibition on town employees simultaneously holding an elective office while holding a paid position for the town,” he said. “We believe that it is important to have a complete and comprehensive understanding of this aspect of our work and that the record shows that our deliberations were thorough and informed by the best possible expertise available.”Manoogian said he would urge anyone who has expressed an interest in the conflict provisions of the proposal to attend the meeting and hear what the state has to say.Resident Dennis Toto told the commission during last week’s hearing that he believed the conflict of interest element of the proposal was perhaps the most important aspect.The main thrust of the issue is that unlike Town Meeting, town employees would not be eligible to run for the Town Assembly, which is how the governing body would be listed under the new charter.A number of Town Meeting members who are employees have taken issue with the proposed change, calling it unfair.However Town Meeting member Ann Devlin said she was excited about the proposed changes and looked forward to supporting them.In addition to hearing from the Ethics Commission, the Charter Commission also invited the School Committee and Superintendent Richard Langlois to attend. Charter Commission Vice Chairman Debra Panetta said since receiving several communications from the committee she thought it would be prudent to simply invite them in. She said the commission wanted the opportunity to have a full understanding of the comments and suggestions made by the School Committee as well as the opportunity to clarify any misconceptions.”The Saugus Public Schools have been a major focal point of our work and our proposal,” she added. “We want to be certain that every concern and comment is fully understood and appropriately addressed before we complete the final report.”Members of the public are also encouraged to attend the meeting and copies of the draft proposal are available in the town clerk’s office and the public library.