Saugus cops file suit against town for raises

SAUGUS – The president of the Saugus Police Patrolmen’s Union informed selectmen Tuesday night that the union is suing the town.”Back in June an article pertaining to the arbitration award for the police patrolmen was referred back to the board and now seven months have passed since that and I haven’t heard any discussion ?” said officer Matthew Vecchio. “Nothing’s been done. Because of the board’s inaction, the union has filed a lawsuit which will cause the union and town more unnecessary money to litigate this.”In a settlement reached in January of last year, arbitrator Gary D. Altman Esq. awarded the union a 13 percent raise over six years dating from July 2009 and ending in July 2014. A Town Meeting vote was required to approve the raise.According to the agreement, no raises will be given for 2009 through 2011, but a 6 percent raise was to kick in as of Jan. 1, 2012 pending the Town Meeting approval. This is followed by 1.5 percent raises on July 1, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013, and 2 percent raises on July 1, 2013 and Jan. 1, 2014.Vecchio said the article was referred back to selectmen because of the financial uncertainty at the time, and noted Town Meeting “didn’t have enough information.””What we’re looking for is a direction on what the board is doing with this,” said Vecchio, who is also a Town Meeting member. “We’d like to see this back before Town Meeting. Quite frankly we do have a clearer financial picture and I would argue it’s much better than it was in June. That’s really what the lawsuit that we filed is looking for.”Selectmen Chairman Michael Serino told Vecchio that the board has “no authority to negotiate contracts” and cautioned selectmen not to speak on the issue Tuesday night due to the pending lawsuit.”At Town Meeting I got up and spoke against referring it to the Board of Selectmen ?” said Serino. “Unfortunately, Town Meeting didn’t take my advice not to refer it and I would just as soon leave it at that since a lawsuit (is filed).”However, Vecchio noted the contract was already negotiated and just needed to be awarded.In other business, the board approved a license transfer to allow Charlie’s Pizzeria at 304 Lincoln Ave. to move to 1-3 Main St. and voted 3-2 to reject petitioning the legislature for a liquor license for Carmaleno’s Pushcart. Serino and selectmen Stephen Horlick and Debra Panetta voted against.”We have 45 liquor licenses in town and it becomes political, and I don’t want to start setting a precedent in town,” said Serino.Tuesday’s meeting started with a moment of silence for George Moriello, who passed away last week.”He meant a lot to a lot of people in Saugus,” said Castinetti. “Not only was he well-known and well-liked, he was a Town Meeting member as well and a friend of the veterans. He was one of the few who maintained the veterans monuments at Winter and Central streets. He will be sorely missed.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].