Signatures piling up for Save Saugus

SAUGUS – Save Saugus PAC Chairman Mark Mitchell said he and his group of volunteers have collected approximately 4,000 signatures against each of four selectmen they are attempting to subject to a recall election.In order for a special election to occur, the group must submit 4,420 certified signatures by noon Monday.Mitchell said about 1,100 of the signatures were gathered Tuesday as volunteers were at every polling location throughout the day. He said his group has been pre-certifying signatures to ensure they submit enough valid ones to the town clerk.This is the first recall effort Saugus has seen since February 1975 when selectmen Clayton Trefry, Christie Serino, David Dywer, Benjamin MacGlashin and John Bucchiere were targeted for removal. Bucchiere resigned voluntarily while Trefry, Dwyer and Serino were voted out of office. MacGlashin was the only one to survive the special election.The campaign was launched by the Saugus Citizens’ Recall Committee following the termination of former Town Manager Robert Hagopian, which had taken place five months earlier.Following his termination, Hagopian filed a lawsuit against the town and was awarded $30,000. However, that decision was overturned in 1981 by the U.S. Court of Appeals.”Volunteers have reported that, for the most part, people seek out our red shirts and come to us to sign; they don’t need any persuasion,” Mitchell said of the Save Saugus initiative. “The overwhelming majority want to sign for all four that are up for recall.”On Oct. 17, Mitchell and his team began the task of collecting 4,420 signatures (25 percent of the town’s 17,680 registered voters) for each of the four selectmen they are seeking to recall: Chairman Ellen Faiella, Vice Chairman Maureen Dever and selectmen Stephen Castinetti and Paul Allan. Under the Town Charter, the group has 25 days to submit the required signatures, with a deadline of Nov. 10. Any selectman for which 4,420 certified signatures are submitted will be subject to recall.Mitchell said the number of volunteers has grown from the three dozen who launched the effort in September. “We have over 1,000 members on our Facebook page,” he said.Mitchell said former Town Manager Scott Crabtree, who was fired by a 4-1 vote of selectmen last week, has joined the campaign.Faiella said that while she and the other selectmen are aware of the recall, they continue to focus on “doing the jobs we were elected to do.””A lot of people wanted to hear from us, we owed them that,” she said of the Oct. 29 public hearing when selectmen detailed the charges against Crabtree.Faiella said she was disappointed that Crabtree did not attend the hearing.”This was his decision to have a public hearing,” she said. “I think he owed the citizens of this town more.”Crabtree withdrew the request for the hearing hours before it was set to begin, instead submitting a letter from his attorney detailing his responses to the nine allegations brought against him by the selectmen.Although there is palpable tension between the pro- and anti-recall factions, Mitchell said he has instructed his volunteers to remain non-confrontational toward the four selectmen and their supporters.”We request that everyone continue to move forward with professionalism and courtesy for others,” he said. “We are all fellow Saugonians and in the end we will be here long after the current Board of Selectmen and town manager are in office.”