SAUGUS — The Board of Selectmen had an early morning meeting, where they went over the town’s goals and objectives for the future.
“This is good that we got to get together and try to talk about some of the priorities that we’ve set,” Town Manager Scott Crabtree said. He emphasized that a lot of the subjects they would be discussing are long-term, meaning they could take multiple years to complete.
Crabtree mentioned that one of these long-term goals is the addition of a fire and EMS response building on the west side of Saugus.
“We talked about this a month and a half ago. We’ve engaged a company to do feasibility on location,” Crabtree said. “The Fire Chief, Police Chief, and input from EMS have identified an area within the town of Saugus up in the Northwest area that would deal with response times that were identified as being deficient during the feasibility study.”
He continued that they were looking at locations and he wanted to ensure people knew that there was a lot of time and money that would need to be involved in this.
“I think people have to understand we’re not building a fire station. We’re building an emergency response location,” he said. The hope is that the location would help emergency response times around the town.
One of the issues Crabtree sees happening is getting everyone to back the project and he hopes that support from the Selectmen would help boost it.
“We have to make sure that we have a unified approach in messaging like we did with the schools,” Selectman Jeff Cicolini said. It was agreed that there could be difficulty as some might not see a need for the station as they don’t live in the area affected.
“I’m really excited about the project and I think that this will be a good thing…It’s a lot of money involved but the overall thing is it’s an investment for the town,” Crabtree said.
The target for a possible presentation to the public in search of feedback will be in March.
Another priority is putting heating into the American Legion building after the town had already worked on some upgrades to the structure.
“One of the priorities and goals is the Public Safety Communications improvements,” Crabtree said.
Inventory and inspections were done on the public safety radio room, equipment, alert notification system, satellite communication areas, and six remote sites that transmit or receive radio communications.
“We’re going to be looking at probably reconstructing a little bit in the Public Safety Building…to do the whole room over for the 911 system…We’re also looking to put another tower somewhere on the other part of town so that we have more repetitive communications for public safety,” he said.
Crabtree continued that parks and playgrounds were still on the list including Golden Hills, Stackpole Park, and Stocker.
“If we’re going to move forward with the dog park…Right now we’re going to be going to the Conservation [Committee] to make sure that it’s even feasible to be able to put a park there,” Crabtree said.
The possibility is that the town would bundle all three parks because it could save money by getting one contractor to do all three.
Michael Serino asked that after the first go-around of upgrades if it would be possible to continue upgrading the surroundings like the bleachers at Stocker’s baseball field and Anna Parker’s parking lot.
Crabtree responded that it depends on how much the parks are used. “The idea would be to get more use out of all of these recreational areas,” he said. Crabtree said that the goal is to not have abandoned playgrounds or fields.
The group also highlighted that getting more people to use these areas will help create a safer space for the community.
Cicolini mentioned the importance of thinking about senior residents as they discuss the possibility of new buildings and upgrades and how it would effect taxpayers.
“If you’re 75 years old and you’re living on Social Security and the town gets a vote to build something…you vote no but it passes, you’re 75…now you’re automatically incurring that burden even if you can’t afford it. You don’t have a choice,” he said.
Another plan for the future is to look at design work for Cliftondale Square to finally start looking at the proposed parking lot with the help of the $2.3 million in federal funding that the town received to revitalize the area.
