SAUGUS — All articles heard at the first night of Town Meeting passed with unanimous support, although a few of them prompted Town Meeting members to ask clarifying questions.
The meeting began with the nomination of Stephen Doherty as town moderator. Doherty thanked Town Meeting members for their confidence in him.
Of interest to Precinct 10 Town Meeting Member Martin Costello was Article 5, which authorized the appropriation of funds to purchase various pieces of equipment, such as police cruisers and trash trucks, for departments in town, which the Finance Committee had recommended an appropriation of $1,670,000 for.
Costello asked if the town had any plans for initiatives to use electric vehicles, adding that their life expectancy and durability might be better.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree replied that the cruisers being purchased with appropriated funds are “frontline” vehicles and often have 100,000 miles on them within a year. After they reach a high mileage, they are downgraded to the second line of vehicles, and they are eventually shifted to other departments until they are retired.
For safety and inspectional reasons, Crabtree said that it has become harder to phase vehicles out this way.
“There is a limit to be able to take a police cruiser that’s been driven for two or three years, and then have an employee drive a vehicle that’s pretty problematic with 150,000 miles that has had accidents, damages, and issues,” Crabtree said. “We’d always have to replace those frontline vehicles each year, and that’s a good practice.”
Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member Robert Palleschi took to the lectern after the introduction of Article 7, which appropriated funds for the design and construction of capital improvements to the town’s sewer system. The Finance Committee recommended an appropriation of $2,730,500 for this purpose.
After introducing the article, Crabtree said that the town was put under an administrative consent order (ACO) by the state Department of Environmental Protection due to raw sewage flowing into the Saugus River before he became town manager. Palleschi asked when the ACO would be completed.
Crabtree explained that the town has fulfilled all required actions mandated by the ACO, but said monitoring often continues for years afterward.
Town Meeting will continue on Monday, May 13.
