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THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, April 8, 2022 Page 15 The Sounds of Saugus By Mark E. Vogler A new deputy assessor takes over at Town Hall Iwona Zamiejska-Wilt, a Polish immigrant, is completing her third week on the job as the town’s new deputy assessor, filling a key town position that’s been vacant for months. Zamiejska-Wilt, 43, an Ipswich resident, comes from that town’s Assessor’s Department, where she worked four years as the administrative assistant to the chief assessor. “We are happy to welcome Iwona as the new Deputy Assessor for the Town of Saugus,” Town Manager Crabtree said of the recent appointment. “Iwona holds extensive experience, certifications, and advanced knowledge of the inner workings of a municipal assessor’s department.This will make her a valuable asset to our community and residents,” Crabtree said. Crabtree said this week that he is happy that the important Town Hall position is finally after months of being vacant. Tracy Mingolelli, who will have worked in the assessor’s office for seven years on Aug. 31, takes over as the new assistant assessor. Meanwhile, a new person has been hired to fill her previous job as principal clerk. Mingolelli is just one course away from completing her Massachusetts Accredited Assessors Certificate. So, for the first time in many months, the department will be running at full strength. Crabtree told the Finance Committee at Wednesday night’s meeting (April 6) that the office will be in great shape because former Deputy Assessor Ron Keohan will continue to work with the town as the office goes through its transition. Prior to Zamiejska-Wilt’s appointment, Keohan has been assisting the town in a consulting capacity. “The transition will be very sound,” Crabtree said. “Our retired assessor Ron has agreed to stay on for the transition. That’s going to help,” the town manager said. Zamiejska-Wilt is very energetic and health conscious. She, her husband and two sons, enjoy hiking and camping. She says she does a lot of bicycling and exercising and loves the outdoors “My family wants to hike all the peaks in New Hampshire. There are 48 4,000 footers and we’ve done at least seven of them by now, including Mount Washington,” she said. “I love to travel. We had been planning to go to Poland where all of my family live. But because of the circumstances (the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has caused Ukrainian civilians to flee the country – many of them into neighboring Poland. With the influx of refugees into Poland, Zamiejska-Wilt said that tourism is being affected and tourists are being turned away. “I’m very proud of my country for helping so much,” she said of the welcoming mat that Poland has extended to the people of Ukraine during a major humanitarian crisis that involves the departure of more than four million people out of the country after being forced out of their homes. Zamiejska-Wilt comes from Gdansk, Poland, located on the Baltic Sea. She says she got attracted to Saugus because it strikes her as “a busy town.” “I like challenges and I’m very excited about this job, and, hopefully, we’ll have a good, long relationship with the town,” she said. “My main focus will be to get through the revaluation with the Department of Revenue for the 2023 Fiscal Year, which begins July 1. Values will be based on the sales from the 2021 calendar year, which was quiet. Zamiejska-Wilt has a friendly, very outgoing personality and many of the employees at Town Hall seem to be warming up to her. Especially Beata Malicka, a benefits accounting analyst who works in the Human Resources Department. Composite opens next week This announcement just in from Town Hall: the community’s compost site will be open to residents on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., beginning on Saturday, April 16, 2022. The site is located behind the Department of Public Works at 515 Main Street. Stickers are required to gain seasonal access to the site. Stickers may be purchased for $25.00 at the Department of Public Works (DPW) located at the Compost Site when making your visit to the Compost Site. The Town accepts checks only for payment of the $25.00. No cash will be accepted. Kindly bring a check when visiting. Thank you! Compost site stickers must be permanently placed on the lower left corner of the residents’ automobile windshields. Vehicles registered out of state are not permitted. Yard waste must be disposed of in brown compost bags or open containers. The Town will accept grass clippings, leaves, and brush. As in years past, no branches or limbs larger than three inches in diameter are permitted. We ask all residents to please wear a mask, maintain and respect social distancing from others while visiting the site. Residents may call Lorna Cerbone at the Solid Waste and Recycling Department at 781-231-4036 with questions or for more information. Town-Wide Spring Street Sweeping Begins Monday This just in from Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree and the Department of Public Works. The Town’s Annual Spring Street Sweeping Program will begin next Monday (April 4), weather permitting. Sweepers will start in the area of north Saugus (Precincts 5 and 7) and work their way across Town, working from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Residents are kindly asked to keep vehicles off the street when sweepers are in the area. Locals may assist the Department of Public Works by sweeping their driveways or sidewalks into the gutter area prior to the program’s start. Residents are asked not to sweep driveways and/or sidewalks once the sweepers have swept. GUESS WHO GOT SKETCHED? If you know the right answer, you might win the contest. In this week’s edition, we continue our weekly feature where a local artist sketches people, places and things in Saugus. Got an idea whose being sketched this week? If you do, please email me at mvoge@comcast.net or leave a phone message at 978-683-7773. Anyone who identifies the Saugonian sketched in this week’s paper between now and Tuesday at Noon qualifies to have their name put in a green Boston Red Sox hat with a chance to be selected as the winner of a $10 gift certificate, compliments of Dunkin’ Donuts in the Food Court at the Saugus Square One Mall. But you have to enter to win! Look for the winner and identification in next week’s “The Sounds of Saugus.” Please leave your mailing address in case you are a winner. (Courtesy illustration to The Saugus Advocate by a Saugonian who goes by the name of “The Sketch Artist”) Keep in mind that street sweepers are unable to collect stones, branches, leaves, or other foreign objects. In addition, residents are asked to be mindful that sweepers cannot pick up large piles of sand. Please contact the Department of Public Works at 781-231-4143 with any questions. Helping the people Ukraine The First Congregational Church of Saugus UCC raised $704 for the people of Ukraine last Sunday. “The fundraiser was amazing!” Rev. Bill Ladd said. “These funds will be divided and sent to UNICEF and The International Red Cross this week. We have congregants with extended family in Ukraine so this is a very personal tragedy for us all,” he said. “First Church will be joining with other churches in the future to provide funds to aid all those who find their lives destroyed by the invasion of Ukraine.” Manoogian’s take on this week’s meeting in ash landfill meeting in Revere As a former history teacher I cannot help thinking in parallels. After all, “those who forget the past are bound to repeat it.” In Saugus, it is more like “those who NEGLECT the past are bound to repeat it.” I knew this when I first heard of Wheelabrator’s (WIN) ground $oftening campaign to win $upport for expan$ion of the now on life support ash dump, or what WIN’s chief environmental propagandist calls a “monofill.” I knew then (2013) that within a few years Wheelabrator would need a few of their own “Mancuhrian Candidates” for elected and appointed office. Saugus has always had its own share of politicians that would sell out their community “for a gallon of ice cream” as former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kelley once quipped. I knew all this when I arranged to bring together leaders from regional environmental groups in my home to discuss a strategy to stop the “environmental Putin” from its desire to gobble up more air space with their toxic by-product. So just as NATO was formed after WW2 as a bulwark against an aggressor, the Alliance was formed to counter ash aggression in Saugus. Over the last few years the Alliance has increased its ranks and expanded its reach. After all, this is a regional environmental issue, not a Saugus issue alone. With the addition of Representative Jeffrey Rosario Turco and the staff of Senator Edward Markey the strength and will of The Alliance can now counterbalance the “cash for ash” mentality that seeks its own metastasis is Saugus. Like NATO, it is now realized that “an attack (ash expansion) on one community (Saugus) is an attack on all. It’s an attack on the state’s environmental justice law, an attack on the plan to be carbon neutral by 2050. Even Winthrop is very active now in The Alliance. DEP Commissioner Suuberg undoubtedly approved the presence last evening of DEP staff that clearly reiterated that WIN is free to apply for a site assignment to gobble up more airspace but the ACEC law would dictate “site not suitable.” In other words when the ash dump reaches 50 feet it will be fini, el morte, it’s over.Their willingness to answer questions stood in stark contrast to their approach at the hearing at the old Saugus High School back in 2017 when Wheelabrator proposed taking their own Sudetenland or Crimea. (The capped valleys) to dump more ash. Perhaps, just maybe, the barren plateau of useless incinerator ash can be topped with a sea of sunflowers nurtured by the will and determination of good people who recognized, rather than ignored, or worse, encouraged environmental aggression. Elks pre-Easter Ham Shoot next Friday The Saugus-Everett Elks will be hosting a pre-Easter Ham Shoot today (Friday, April 8), beginning at 7 p.m. This meat raffle will take place in the Elks Terrace Room at 401 Main St. in Saugus and will feature several rounds of hams, turkeys, roasts and other prizes to prepare for your holiday feast with all proceeds to benefit local lodge charities. The Elks will have free pickies and a cash bar. Bring some friends and enjoy a fun night for a good cause. We have a winner! Congratulations to Fran Palczynski for making the right identification in last week’s “Guess Who got Sketched?” Contest. She was the only reader answering correctly.So, there was no need to have a drawing from the green Boston Red Sox cap. Here’s the correct answer, offered by the person who goes by the name of The Sketch Artist: “The answer to last week’s sketch is Firefighter (DJ) Donald Blandini. Donald (DJ) Blandini has been with Saugus Fire Department since 2012, and recently stepped into his hardearned title of Lieutenant. His station is the Central Fire Station on Hamilton Street. “Lt. Blandini brings to his job a degree in Fire Science and enthusiasm to help people! In his sketch to the left, there’s a star rising. It’s in reference to The Saugus Advocate (Feb.4 Issue, page 4) statement about Blandini by Deputy Fire Chief D’Eon. ‘I think DJ is a rising star in the organization,’ Deputy Chief D’Eon said. ‘He is a very conscientious, solid guy and family man who really cares about Saugus. He’s married with two children and he’s a hometown guy,’ the deputy chief addied. “Lt. Blandini graduated with the Saugus High Class of 2005. As a Saugonian, he loves serving in a town he grew up in. “He assisted with the Saugus Business Education Collaborative’s “Shadow Day” for the Saugus High Juniors and in The Saugus Advocate (March 25th Issue, page 2 ) he is pictured with his hopeful Junior Firefighters in full firefighter’s gear for a full immersion shadow experience. “He is a U.S. Army Veteran who served two tours in Iraq. Lt. Donald Blandini Served as an E- 4 Corporal. “Much success in your career and congratulations on your promotion to Lieutenant!Thankyou SOUNDS | SEE PAGE 16

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