SAUGUS – Selectmen Vice Chairman Steve Castinetti blasted two current Saugus Cable Television Station board members for not standing up to Chairman Christopher Peatridge and following him “like sheep.”?I don?t like the fact that you?re trying to protect the stupid things that he does,” said Castinetti during interviews for Jim Ravagno and David Cottam, whose terms are set to expire. “When are you guys going to stand up to him? You followed him like sheep ? I have nothing personal against either one of you guys, but I?m extremely disappointed in your inability to stand up to the chairman.”Castinetti said he was not happy with either of them “not specifically for what you guys did, but for allowing those meetings to be conducted in the matter they were conducted” and asked why the board didn?t allow citizen input when it voted to fire former Operations Manager Richard Garabedian.View a timeline of SCTS history
From SCTV to SCTS on Dipity.
Ravagno said the board looked at the meeting as if it were in executive session, even though Garabedian elected to have it open.Selectmen Chairman Michael Serino noted since it was a personnel issue it wasn?t open to public comment.Castinetti also asked how they felt about Peatridge confiscating the SD card from the video camera after the meeting, to which Ravagno said he was “glad he did ? because it was in a safe place.”?You don?t trust your own employees?” asked Castinetti.?I don?t trust anybody,” said Ravagno. “I didn?t want to see that get lost or get deleted ? I don?t see what the problem was with that ? It still made TV in its entirety.”Castinetti said when Peatridge took it, “it became under his control, not the TV station.”Prior to Castinetti?s criticism, Ravagno said the board has made “a lot of progress” especially with payroll and the SCTS rule book.?Starting last year with the issues people had with freedom of speech ? I?m the one who rewrote it and put it out on the net,” he said. “I heard from one person, and we incorporated her suggestion and we published it. We haven?t heard a thing since.”Ravagno said they also instituted a new payroll system and hired a company to digitize the process.?It was a book people put their hours in with pencil,” he said. “It?s the 21st century so we couldn?t do things like that ? We have a good handle on the assets. Getting everything tagged and getting everything organized, that?s going to be a major effort.”Castinetti asked why the interviews weren?t being filmed when last week?s interviews were.?They were told, I understand, not to film it,” said Castinetti.When selectman Debra Panetta asked who told them, Castinetti said, “take a guess.”?I believe it came from the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saugus Cable Television Station,” he said.Ravagno said he had “no knowledge” of that.At the regular meeting after the interviews, selectmen voted 3-2 to reappoint Cottam and Ravagno to the board. Castinetti and Selectman Julie Mitchell voted against both. Mitchell made a motion to appoint Edward Wawrzynowicz, but that motion failed 3-2.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].
