Saugus board appoints temporary town manager

SAUGUS – After emerging from executive session Monday night, the Board of Selectmen announced that Robert Palleschi was chosen to be the town’s temporary town manager, then voted unanimously to appoint him to the post.The vote comes three months after Palleschi stepped down from the Finance Committee following 33 years of service, including 12 years as chairman.Selectmen Chairman Ellen Faiella said acting Town Manager Michael Murphy, who was named when selectmen voted to suspend Scott Crabtree, will continue his duties until Palleschi is sworn in Friday. Murphy has been the acting town manager since September.”Saugus thanks you,” said Faiella.Despite recent differences with the other board members, Selectman Debra Panetta said she favored this vote.”We need a town manager and I fully support Bob Palleschi at this time,” said Panetta, who last week cast the lone vote against firing Crabtree.Vice Chairman Maureen Dever also expressed her approval. “(Palleschi) can hit the ground running when it comes to budgetary issues,” she said. “I look forward to working with him.”To differentiate between an acting and temporary town manager, an acting town manager is chosen if the current town manager is away or otherwise unable to oversee the town’s business. A temporary town manager is appointed when the town manager’s position becomes vacant. This individual would typically perform the job for a longer time period, Panetta explained.In terms of hiring a permanent town manager, Selectman Paul Allan suggested enlisting the help of the Massachusetts Municipal Association to conduct preliminary interviews. He said the initial process would require the MMA to make a series of eliminations before sending its top applicants to Saugus.”I would say a minimum of three, maybe five, and then we choose,” said Allan.He also said that an outside company should be used to assist in writing a new town manager contract “that meets the needs of the community.”Selectman Stephen Castinetti said he supported using the MMA, as he was strongly opposed to the process used to hire Crabtree in 2012. That process involved changing the Town Charter’s requirement from four votes to three votes to appoint a town manager.”We all know that process was flawed and I don’t ever want to do that again,” Castinetti said, adding that full credit and CORI checks should be conducted as well.”This is our responsibility as the Board of Selectmen,” said Faiella. “We don’t know who these people will be who will come before us, we have to trust the MMA.”