Saugus selectmen table recall election

SAUGUS – The recall election for four selectmen will not be held Feb. 3 after all, as selectmen voted Tuesday night to table the issue while questioning the veracity of hundreds of signatures certified by the town clerk.Selectmen voted 4-1 to table the issue, with Selectman Debra Panetta casting the dissenting vote.Chairman Ellen Faiella said that upon receiving notification that enough signatures had been submitted for a recall, Wendy Reed, clerk for the selectmen, drafted letters to the four selectmen. However, Faiella said the election warrant that selectmen would have needed to sign was never made available, hence their reason for exceeding the Town Charter’s five-day time period to call for the election.Faiella said she was advised on Tuesday by Town Counsel John Vasapolli to move the date to Feb. 24 as the five-day window had been missed. She said the secretary of state’s office concurred with the new date.”Now we’re being told Feb. 24,” said Faiella. “What prompted that three weeks?”The board also voted unanimously to seek the opinion of outside legal counsel regarding the legality of the special election. Faiella questioned the standards used to verify the signatures and role of Town Counsel John Vasapolli.”I believe our town counsel solicited signatures for the recall,” she said.”I am asking for outside counsel to come in and look at this process from start to finish,” said Selectman Maureen Dever. “I have no confidence in town counsel.”Dever said she suspected that some of the signature pages could have been counted twice and that some voters could have signed for other people.”We have a compromised process here,” she said. “I for one am not prepared to call any election.”Dennis Gould, chairman of Save the B.O.S. PAC, said he paid $312 for copies of the signatures.”I immediately found 897 signatures that should have been deleted,” he said, adding that they were forged or signed multiple times.”It’s just a mess,” he said.Had those signatures been removed, Gould said that the recall could have been averted.He said he had offered to work together with the town clerk’s office to re-verify the signatures, but Vasapolli recommended against it.Resident Jeff Ciccolini, one of the residents who delivered completed signature sheets to the town clerk calling for the recall, took to the podium.”I am appalled,” he said, adding that Gould was wrong to go before the board making such claims.”I don’t appreciate him getting up here pontificating,” said Ciccolini.He also said that the board should adhere to Vasapolli’s opinions rather than challenge them. “How many times have I heard you berate the guy?” he asked. “The difference between you and him is that he has a juris doctorate and you don’t.”Faiella, Dever, Stephen Castinetti and Paul Allan will be subject to the recall, which stems from the board’s 4-1 vote on Oct. 29 to terminate former Town Manager Scott Crabtree. Panetta cast the lone vote in favor of Crabtree and will not be included in the recall.According to the Charter, the signatures of at least 25 percent of the town’s registered voters – or 4,443 – were needed in order to force a special election. Save Saugus PAC submitted at least 4,850 certified signatures for each of the four selectmen it is attempting to recall.Nomination papers for the election will be available starting today in the town clerk’s office.