SAUGUS — Monday’s Town Meeting is likely to be much shorter than expected after officials opted Friday to remove all financial articles from the meeting warrant, due to the fact that the town’s Financial Committee has yet to provide its recommendations.
Instead, Town Meeting will vote on just a handful of articles, with Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony Cogliano expected to speak in favor of Article 20, which seeks to rename the athletic complex at the town’s new middle-high school complex after longtime hockey coach and student mentor, Christie Serino, Jr.
The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted in favor of the proposal early last month.
“He was my coach at Saugus High School for football and hockey, and (was) probably the best athlete to ever come out of Saugus High,” Cogliano said. “He was a great role model and mentor to many of us in Saugus, so that’s one I’m going to speak very highly on.”
Serino, who grew up in East Saugus and was a graduate of the town’s public schools, was a former three-sport athlete and inductee into the Saugus High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
He previously taught English at Belmonte Middle School, physical education at Saugus High School, and served as the Sachems hockey head coach from 1980 to 1987 — during which time he won three Northeastern Conference titles and was awarded Eastern Massachusetts Coach of the Year.
After his tenure in Saugus, he went on to coach baseball at the University of New Hampshire from 1994 to 1996 and hockey at Merrimack College from 1999 to 2005. Before his death from cancer in October 2012 at age 63, Serino served as athletic director and hockey coach for Malden Catholic.
“He had his fingerprints engraved in every aspect of this community,” Serino’s son, Matt Serino, told The Item on April 15. “When really looking at it, you want to name the field after someone who represents not just a playing field, but represents what this town is all about. With everything that my father stood for and everything he did for this town and the people that he affected, it seemed like a perfect fit to name the new stadium after him.”
Town Meeting is scheduled to take place Monday from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. A zoom meeting link is available on the town’s website at saugus-ma.gov/town-clerk/events/52441.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
