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Page 8 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023 STAYING THE COURSE | FROM PAGE 1 “I appreciate the confi dence,” Crabtree told selectmen after the offi cial vote approving his two-year extension. “And I do appreciate the job and will continue to work as hard as I can to improve on the things that you would like to have improved. I appreciate this job and I appreciate all of your support.” In addition, Crabtree received a 4 percent pay raise, retroactive from Aug. 23, 2022. The contract extension and pay information wasn’t immediately available. But Board of Selectman Chair Anthony Cogliano said Crabtree’s current base pay of $196,000 would increase to about $205,000, when taking benefi ts into account. Under his previous contract extension, Crabtree, 53, became the fi rst town manager to serve Saugus for a decade in the history of its current form of government (town manager/Representative Town Meeting), which dates back to 1948. Former Town Manager Andrew Bisignani (2003-2012) served for about nine years. Seventeen regular town managers were in offi ce less time. Their service ranged from a year to fi ve years; many of them for just half that period, which earned Saugus the reputation of being “the graveyard for town managers.” But Crabtree — who was fi red in the fall of 2014, only to get rehired a year later after the recall of the four selectmen who fi red him — is already credited with serving 10 years and nine months of service as Saugus town manager (and that includes the time between his fi ring and rehiring). If Crabtree serves the full amount of his contract extension, he will extend his stay at Town Hall to 15 years and four months. “I voted in favor of extending Mr. Scott Crabtree’s contract for two years because I think he’s done an exceptional job moving our Town forward,” Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Debra Panetta said. “I believe this will ensure the stability of our Town, and I look forward to continuing to work with our Town Manager for the betterment of our community and residents,” she said. Crabtree is a fourth-generation Saugus resident. He and his wife, Christina, have three young children. He is a Saugus High School graduate from the class of 1988. Previously, he served as chairman of the Saugus Board of Selectmen and was a town police offi cer for more than a decade. Crabtree holds a bachelor of science degree in management with a concentration in accounting from Boston University and a juris doctor from New England School of Law. He clerked for a Superior Court judge and worked as an accountant for a Boston law fi rm before starting his own Saugus law practice. He has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar since December of 2004. Crabtree became town manager on April 1, 2012. His days at Town Hall nearly ended in October of 2014, when the Board of Selectmen at the time voted 4-1 to fi re him. Selectman Panetta was the lone board member supporting Crabtree. But Panetta and enough citizens in the community rallied behind Crabtree, engineering a successful recall in March 2015 of the four selectmen who fi red the town manager. Panetta and the four “recall advocates” who joined her on the board — Cicolini, Mark Mitchell, Jennifer D’Eon and Scott A. Brazis — rehired Crabtree as one of their fi rst actions as a new board. Two members considered government change Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony Cogliano and Selectman Corinne Riley said they would have preferred to have the board elected this November vote on Crabtree’s contract extension. “I’m not happy this took place at this time as I felt the board coming in in November should have handled his contract extension; however, our Charter, as it presently reads, only requires three votes to extend a Manager’s contract and he had them,” Cogliano told The Saugus Advocate this week. “Voting against the extension would only show division and that’s not what I’m about. I’ve always been a team player and I hope that shows,” he said. A proposal was made to extend the manager’s contract an additional two years from August 2025 to August 2027, with the rationale that with a potential change of government on the horizon, retaining the Town Manager until 2027 would allow a year of overlap to a potential new form of government, according to Riley. “While the year overlap makes sense for a smooth (potential) transition, I felt that this decision would be better handled by the next Board to be elected by voters this November,” Riley said. “However, the proposal was made now, and the Board was not receptive to tabling this issue until November, so I had to make the best decision I could,” she said. “With all the current Saugus Town Manager Scott Crabtree has reason to be happy after selectmen voted to give him a two-year contract extension, ensuring that he will be at the helm of Saugus Town Government through August of 2027. (Saugus Advocate fi le photo by Mark E. Vogler) and soon to be started projects underway, like Cliftondale Revitalization, a West Side Fire Station, the Vocational school, water/sewer upgrades, water meter replacement, public safety communication upgrades, not to mention revenue-generators like marijuana dispensary permitting and potential fi nalization on a Host Community agreement with WIN, I think that stability is critical to get these projects planned and completed eff ectively, and retaining the Manager provides stability to the town, and reduces risk to these projects, even if a change of government were to occur.” Cogliano said his vote was infl uenced in part by the potential for Saugus to change from a town to a city — a move he has been lobbying for in recent weeks. “My vote tonight [Jan. 19] ensures that Saugus will stay the course while I work to change our Charter. With everything going on across the political aisle in town, the last thing we need is more controversy,” Cogliano said. He vowed to have a proposal for a Charter change along with a Charter Commission on the ballot in November. “They will then draft a plan to present to the voters in 2025 and if all goes well we could be electing our fi rst Mayor or Town Manager In mid 2026 for a temporary term,” Cogliano said. “The fi rst full four year term for Mayor could take place in November 2027, the same time the contract expires,” he said. Selectman Jeffrey Cicolini said the contract extension defi nitely helped to allay fears of uncertainty surrounding the possibility of Saugus switching from a town to a city. “Obviously, there is chatter about a change in our government, and this extension provides us much-needed stability into 2027, the fi rst year in which a change in our form of government could take place if supported by the voters,” Cicolini said. “Obviously, we cannot manage our town and fulfi ll our fi - duciary responsibilities based on what-if scenarios. No one knows what the future holds. What we do know is that we now have stability in our executive leadership for the next four years, which is an excellent thing for our community,” he said. Selectmen spent more than two hours in a public evaluation session at Town Hall last week. The Saugus Advocate asked the selectmen to each summarize how they graded Crabtree’s performance in light of the pay raise and contract extension: Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony Cogliano “Strengths: What he does well, he does really well and our town is in great shape fi - nancially.” “Shortcomings: Communication is an area all 5 members say he needs improvement. I think the town has a horrible rapport with developers and that starts at the top. Response time on most matters is slower than I’d like. “I also think he needs to al

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