SAUGUS — With the deadline for candidates to pull papers to appear on the ballot this fall drawing closer, a picture of the choices before voters in November is becoming clearer.
As of Wednesday, six candidates were in the race for Board of Selectmen, five had pulled papers to run for School Committee, and a whopping 22 people intended to seek a seat on the Charter Commission. Lower on the ballot, eight newcomers had pulled papers to serve as Town Meeting members, with 36 of the 50 incumbents seeking reelection to their posts.
Incumbent Town Meeting members have until Sept. 12 to return reelection forms, while all other candidates have until Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. to obtain nomination papers, and Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. to submit papers to the town clerk’s office.
Of the six candidates running for selectman, four are current board members — Vice Chair Debra Panetta, Corinne Riley, Jeff Cicolini, and Michael Serino. Chairman Anthony Cogliano is likely to also seek another term on the board. The two newcomers in the race are Sandro Pansini Souza and Sebastian DiModica.
Souza is a branch manager at Beyond Financing Inc., according to his LinkedIn profile, and DiModica owns and operates New England Tree Company. Neither appears to have held public office in town previously.
On the School Committee, members Ryan Fisher, Dennis Gould, and Leigh Gerow have all taken out papers to seek additional two-year terms on the committee. Joining them are former member Arthur Grabowski, a controversial figure who lost his seat on the committee in 2021, and Stephanie Mastrocola. Mastrocola is a member of the Saugus Business Education Collaborative in her capacity as a WIN Waste Innovations employee.
And, the list of residents running for Charter Commission continues to skyrocket — with eight more people joining the race this week.
Cogliano, Serino, Grabowski, Anthony Speziale, Frank Federico, Julie Mitchell, Robert Camuso, Thomas Traverse, Lori Gallivan, Judy Worthley, Gene Decareau, Donald Cicolini, Peter Rossetti, James Russo, Ken DePatto, Stephen Doherty, Richard Thompson, Gary Sund, John O’Brien, Assunta Palomba, Peter Manoogian, and Matthew Parlante have all taken out nomination papers.
Only nine people will be elected to serve on the commission, but the list already represents an impressive collection of power players in town.
Traverse chairs the Zoning Board of Appeals and DePatto chairs the Finance Committee. Rossetti is a ZBA member, a Town Meeting member, and a former selectman. Doherty serves as town moderator, and Manoogian chaired the town’s most recent charter commission in 2009.
Grabowski is not the only candidate to have endured controversy, with Cogliano having come under fire earlier this year for writing allegedly homophobic Facebook comments and fabricating signatures in connection with a class-action lawsuit filed against WIN Waste. Cogliano has thus far not faced any political ramifications for his actions, unlike Grabowski, who was stripped of his subcommittee memberships on the School Committee in the wake of allegedly racist comments.
Candidates running for Board of Selectmen, School Committee, and Housing Authority are required to obtain 50 certified signatures to appear on the ballot. Residents running to become Town Meeting members need to obtain 10 certified signatures from residents in their precinct.
Any objections or withdrawals must be submitted to the clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Oct. 5, and the drawing of ballot positions will be held at 5:30 p.m. the same day.
Residents have until Oct. 28 to register to vote.
Candidates must submit Office of Campaign Finance reports by Oct. 30, eight days prior to the election; and again on Dec. 7, 30 days following the election.
