SAUGUS — Two Saugus Planning Board members, and the board’s consulting engineer, have all announced plans to resign from their respective positions.
Board Chair Peter Rossetti, Jr. submitted his letter of resignation to Town Manager Scott Crabtree Friday, while member Dennis Moschella told The Item the role had simply become too much work.
“I run a veterans organization, and there are a lot of things you have to go through now on our board. There’s the Planning Department, Town Counsel, stuff like that,” Moschella said. “It’s a lot. It’s a lot of research, and I just didn’t have the time to do it.”
Both he and Rossetti cited busy schedules as part of the reason for their departures.
“I do have other roles within town,” Rossetti said. He explained that his work on the School Board for the region’s vocational high school could potentially cause a conflict with other Planning Board duties. “The town manager is part of those meetings usually, so I don’t want him to feel that we would have an issue with the vocational school because of something that happened on the Planning Board.”
Moschella also told The Item his term actually expired in December 2016 and was never renewed by the town.
“I just never got renewed. I don’t know why,” he said. “It was brought to the attention of people in the town and nothing ever happened.”
Rossetti later added that the board’s engineering consultant, James Sotiros, would also be resigning.
Rossetti and Moschella served on the Planning Board for more than a decade and were assigned to their roles by former Town Manager Andrew Bisignani, who acted as town manager from 2003 until 2012.
“Criticizing is easy, but being on a board and being in a position where you have to make a decision, that’s what it’s all about,” Moschella said.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
