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THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MArCH 17, 2023 Page 13 Saugus Over Coffee Town Meeting member rick Smith offers a message to Precinct 3 residents (Editor’s Note: Precinct 3 Town Meeting Member Rick A. Smith was unable to attend the “Saugus Over Coffee” forum held at the Saugus Public Library last Monday, March 13. But he submitted the following letter, which was read into the record by Saugus Advocate Editor Mark E. Vogler, who has been serving as moderator of the forums being cosponsored by The Saugus Advocate and the Saugus Public Library. Town Meeting members who are unable to attend the forums are invited to submit a letter, which is read in their behalf.) Good evening, my name is Rick Smith and I want to thank you for allowing me to serve as 1 of your 5 elected Precinct 3 Town Meeting Members. I would also like to thank Mark Vogler and the Saugus Advocate for sponsoring this evening’s “Saugus Over Coffee” meeting. Unfortunately, due to a prearranged commitment I am unable to attend in person tonight. However, the “how” and the “why” of tonight’s gathering is important to me, therefore, I prepared this letter, with my ongoing commitment to all Precinct 3 residents. Here’s a little background about myself. I have resided in Saugus since 2002. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management. I have worked in the insurance industry since 2002. Prior to residing in precinct 3, I resided in precinct 9 for several years. I purchased my first home in precinct 3 in 2009. I started my town meeting journey in 2007. Since 2007, I’ve had the pleasure to serve the residents of Precinct 9 and currently the residents of Precinct 3 as one of your Town Meeting Members. I got involved in Saugus politics because I believe every voice matters and that local government is here to serve the people. I further believe that tough times demand strong leadership. During my Town Meeting tenure, there have been several times where hard decisions have had to be made. You have my ongoing commitment that my vote will always represent the best interests of the residents and hard-working families of Precinct 3. My vote will continue to be based on facts and will never be based on what’s viewed as politically correct or convenient. Like many other communities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Saugus faces challenges as well. One of my main priorities as 1 of your Town Meeting Members is to continue to vote on a budget that is balanced and has no decrease to our public services. We need to continue to work together to ensure that our budget fully supports and staffs our schools, library, youth & rec, public safety, infrastructure, DPW, Senior Center [etc.]…. I want to thank the Town Manager for submitting a budget to the Board of Selectmen that is balanced and has a zero reduction in services. The residents of Saugus deserve to live in peace and have safe streets; therefore, I will continue to fully support all of our Public Safety Departments. I also want to thank all of our Public Safety Departments for their service and courage to keep the people of Saugus safe. I also fully support the funding of a 3rd fire station in West Saugus. A continued priority for the Town should be our commitment to fully invest in our School Department. By fully investing in our School Department, we continue to educate, which puts our children on a full path to success. Our children are the future of tomorrow. With high rising costs and inflation, we need to identify ways to increase revenue and not put any additional burden on the hard-working families of Saugus. As a Town Meeting Member, I’m responsible for voting on new and amended Town bylaws. Most of these bylaws have fee penalties attached when the bylaw is not in compliance. I believe that one of the town’s main priorities should be creating and hiring an Enforcement Officer. This position has the ability to collect additional revenue, set precedent and hold law breakers accountable. Just like our surrounding communities, another challenge facing Saugus is our infrastructure. Although, everything comes with a price, I think there is an opportunity to invest more in our infrastructure and ensure that our infrastructure is safe, secure, accessible, up to code and handicapped compliant. I want to thank everyone who attended or is watching this meeting tonight. If you have any questions or concerns involving Precinct 3 please reach out. Stay Safe and Be Well, Sincerely, Rick A. Smith Town Meeting Member Precinct 3 Northeast Metro Tech Responds to Inaccurate Claims of Building Project Opponents By: School Building Committee Chair Theodore Nickole, School Committee Chair Deborah Davis, and School Committee Vice Chair Judith Dyment In January 2022, voters in the 12 communities served by Northeast Metro Tech voted overwhelmingly, with 82.6% in favor, to authorize construction of a new, modern facility that will allow our school to take our extremely strong career and technical education programs to the next level and to increase the amount of students we can accept from 1,280 to 1,600 students when the new building opens. The $317 million project has received significant funding support from the MSBA in the form of a $141 million grant, lowering the project cost nearly in half. This has been a long, deliberative and inclusive process that began over four years ago. The construction site in Wakefield was deemed by that process to be the only feasible site for the new building, and after significant public input, feedback, community meetings and the final support of our residents at the ballot, more than $11 million has already been spent on site work for the new school, which broke ground late last year. After years of public input and a transparent, state-supported process, a small group of residents opposed to the project have taken to typical “not in my backyard” tactics and grandstanding in a last ditch effort to thwart the will of the voters and in an attempt to strip the $141 million in state funding from the hands of our students. To push their NIMBY agenda, this group has posted egregious falsehoods and misrepresentations about the project and have resorted to a little known tactic called Reverse Greenwashing. This small group has used environmental activists and wellknown environmental rally cries to make false, misleading and deceptive claims about the Northeast Metro Tech construction project. Like virtually all construction projects, the new NEMT building project will require site work and the removal of trees from the new building site. The School District and project team anticipated this in the years of lead-up to the project, as any construction project anywhere would require similar work. We have proactively taken measures to preserve woodlands on the project site to the maximum extent possible. The overall footprint of the school was reduced during planning, and an additional floor was added in order to provide more circulation around the building for safety which resulted in the removal of fewer trees and requiring less blasting of ledge. The project team has also worked closely with the Wakefield Conservation Commission for alignment of the driveway and to reduce the width to minimize the impacts to both trees and wetlands. Also, an accessible ramp that traverses from the athletic campus/lower parking lot to the school building/upper parking lot has been included in the project reducing the tree removal and blasting scope of work. The District also plans to plant new trees around the new school grounds to reverse our overall carbon footprint. Northeast Metro Tech is a responsible steward of our environment and of the communities and people we serve. The District has partnered with the MSBA to gain site and funding approval utilizing the same process that every other school seeking MSBA funding must follow. This process was public, and we have conducted and attended over 100 meetings, presentations, and hearings and have participated in board and commission meetings in all 12 cities and towns. We ask that you review the process as a whole and not be taken in by false claims by a small group trying to derail the biggest educational project in our region in a half century because they don’t want it in their neighborhood, and are willing to press false claims about environmental impact to push their agenda. The location, chosen after years of deliberative labor, is final for all intents and purposes. The MSBA simply would not allow the District to reject years’ worth of planning, design and validation for sites we already deemed substandard and that may have even more expensive and challenging environmental requirements. The alternative sites did not undergo the detailed analysis that the approved location did and certainly would have included much more blasting, environmental impacts to not only non-jurisdictional wetlands but also streams, rivers and wetlands. The site for the new NEMT building was selected as part of the MSBA’s Preferred Schematic Report (PSR) process and submitted to the MSBA on December 23, 2020. Following this submission, and the approval from the MSBA Board of Directors in February 2021, the project continued into the Schematic Design Phase which led to a District wide vote on January 25, 2022 to approve the Project Scope and Budget. The proposed layout, adjacencies and building configuration achieved the District’s educational goals and vision and was supported by an overwhelming supermajority of voters. The location of the new school also allows for construction to occur with the METRO TECH | SEE PAGE 20

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