SAUGUS — A long-discussed petition drive launched by Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony Cogliano with the aim of forming a charter commission to study the town’s governing document and suggest changes officially got underway this month.
Cogliano told The Item in January that one of his biggest goals for 2023 was to begin the process of changing the town’s charter so that Saugus can become a city.
Since then, Cogliano has backed away from the more radical change of converting Saugus from a town to a city, which would involve electing a city council and a mayor. He has narrowed his focus with the goal of drawing more support for the cause. Cogliano said last week that he would like to see an elected town manager and staggered terms for the Board of Selectmen.
But, the petition itself does not call for any specific changes to the charter. That task, should Cogliano secure enough signatures (3,500 in all) and should voters support the idea, would fall to an elected charter commission. If Cogliano is able to secure all the necessary signatures prior to July 15, voters would be tasked first with approving the idea of a charter commission, and then with electing nine people to serve on the board. Those nine people would be responsible for drafting a document with proposed changes that would then go before voters for final approval.
By amending his initial proposal, Cogliano has now garnered the support of a majority of the Board of Selectmen — with Corinne Riley and Jeff Cicolini now supporting the idea.
“Our message is stronger when the majority of the board is behind it,” Cogliano said in an interview last week.
Cicolini later clarified that he supported the idea of forming a charter commission and staggered elections for the Board of Selectmen and School Committee but did not support broader changes. He said he would support the idea of an elected town manager with certain conditions in place, like an education requirement.
Cogliano has repeatedly criticized Town Manager Scott Crabtree and made it clear that he was not happy with the way in which Crabtree’s most recent contract extension, which the selectmen approved in January and which runs through 2027, was handled. He said he believed the decision should have been left to the board members elected by voters this fall.
An elected town manager, he argued, would have greater accountability to residents than an appointed manager who can only be removed from office by a super-majority vote of the selectmen. Under Cogliano’s vision, that person would also sit on the School Committee as a non-voting member — much like a mayor does — to serve as an extra set of eyes on issues, particularly those related to finance.
But, he acknowledged that talk of specific changes to the charter remains premature.
“I want to put something forward that the voters support,” Cogliano said, noting that should he be able to hold both a position on the Board of Selectmen and on the commission, he would run for a seat on the commission. “If I can’t run for charter commission, I certainly won’t be missing a meeting.”
Cogliano said he has already seen a tremendous response to the petition drive, with copies available at a number of local businesses — including Richdale, Flex Fitness, Sizzle Tanning, Faucis Sports Nutrition, Sons of Sicily, Goodfellas, Tangles Hair Salon, Entyre Inc., Beat Connextionz, Rossetti Insurance, Russo Painting, Prince Restaurant, and Old School Apparel — and 30 people aiding him in collecting signatures.
Based on his first week of signature-gathering, Cogliano said he was confident he would be able to get a charter commission on the ballot this November. He said he opted to push for the charter change via a petition drive because he wants “everyone involved in the process.”
“I don’t put myself out there to lose,” he added.
Cogliano’s effort isn’t the first time a charter change has been discussed in Saugus.
Efforts in 1983 and 2009 both failed after voters declined to adopt charters proposed by elected commissions. Those documents represented different approaches to governance, but Cogliano’s vision more closely mirrors the 1983 effort, which called for an elected chief executive. The more recent effort, in 2009, would not have seen voters elect a town manager.
Cogliano said he would like to incorporate ideas from both documents into whatever comes next.
Should voters adopt a charter commission this fall, the nine-member group would have 18-24 months to study the town’s charter and proposed changes. The document would then go before voters for a final approval, and Cogliano said he foresaw the first election for a town manager taking place in 2027 — when Crabtree’s contract expires.
He said should that election happen, he would throw his hat in the ring.
“I’m doing this for the town of Saugus,” Cogliano said. “My heart’s in the right place and I’m going to continue to push this town forward.”
Cogliano is hosting a forum at the Saugus TV station on Main Street Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., during which he will discuss the petition and answer residents’ questions.
The charter process will be “a good lesson for all of us as to what people really want to see,” he said.
