Effort to recall Saugus selectmen underway

SAUGUS – Mark Mitchell, chairman of Save Saugus PAC, walked into Town Hall on Thursday morning to deliver the first wave of signatures to remove four of the five selectmen from office.Town Clerk Ellen Schena, along with colleagues Elizabeth Trask and Danielle Bentley snapped to attention when Mitchell walked in. They knew why he was there.Accompanied by Save Saugus members Ann Devlin, Janice Jarosz and Timothy Hawkes, Mitchell opened his red three-ring binder and pulled out two stacks of paper bound together by black binder clips.”It was kind of overkill. I think we had, like, 500-plus,” Mitchell said, referring to the number of signatures that had been collected in favor of having a recall vote regarding the four, selectmen Chairman Ellen Faiella, Vice Chairman Maureen Dever and selectmen Stephen Castinetti and Paul Allan.The fifth selectman, Debra Panetta, is not part of the recall and is frequently a minority of one in votes taken by the other four.Residents began signing the initial petition just days after the Sept. 15 suspension of Town Manager Scott Crabtree.Referencing pages 20-23 of the Town Charter, Schena said that Mitchell will have 25 days to get a minimum of 4,420 signatures for each selectman. This number represents 25 percent of the town’s 17,682 registered voters. Therefore, the total number of signatures required to put the recall vote on the Nov. 4 ballot cannot be less than 17,680.However, Schena suggested that additional signatures will be possible, since residents will not be restricted to choosing one selectman.”You’re probably going to get 20,000 signatures,” she said.Rather, each voter has the option of signing four times, once on each petition. Should that be the case, the cumulative total would skyrocket to 70,728.Given the quantity, she recommended submitting the signature lists incrementally to ensure that no errors are made.Schena will also supply the group with the names and addresses of all the registered voters in town.”My job is to serve you with something like this and we will do the best we can,” she told Mitchell.While a four-selectman recall is unprecedented in Saugus, Mitchell said that such action has become necessary to avoid a lawsuit that “could potentially cost the town millions.””They’ve hijacked the town for a month now,” he said of the four selectmen.Devlin said she appreciated the demeanor of Schena and her colleagues, saying they seemed friendly and supportive of Save Saugus.She explained that although collecting thousands of signatures in less than a month “sounds daunting,” she has spoken with numerous residents who share the same dissatisfaction and are thus, desirous to sign the new petition.Jarosz echoed Devlin saying that Save Saugus has fielded a multitude of calls during the past few weeks on this matter.She said that getting the required signatures is “absolutely doable.” “People who never got involved before are involved.”However, she does not underestimate the challenge at hand, adding that the group wanted to submit the first petition to allow enough time to complete the second.”We tried to time it, we only have 25 days,” said Jarosz.In addition to door-to-door canvassing, Mitchell said his volunteers will be available in Saugus Center and Cliftondale Square as well. Residents can also receive the petition via e-mail or access additional information at Take Back Our Town of Saugus on Facebook or on Twitter at #takebacksaugus.