Page 2 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MAy 8, 2026 Town Meeting 2026 A Summary of Session One – members stick with Moderator Doherty for a seventh term By Mark E. Vogler T own Moderator Stephen Doherty can serve at least two more years presiding over the Saugus Annual Town Meeting. In their first order of business Monday night (May 4), members reelected Doherty to preside over the 50-member body for the 2025-27 term. Precinct 4 TOWN MEETING | FROM PAGE 1 legal opinion from Town Counsel John Vasapolli as to whether the warrant article would conflict with the legislation initiated by the governor. “Even if the Town Meeting passes this bylaw, the attorney general has to review it and approve it,” Vasapolli said. Vasapolli said he didn’t see any problem with Town Meeting voting on the article without knowing the provisions of the governor’s legislation. Selectman Frank Federico told Town Meeting that he supports the article “unequivocally,” while noting he is concerned about the time frame Town Meeting Member Joseph DiFilippo nominated Doherty to serve a seventh consecutive term. Members approved the measure unanimously on a voice vote. Doherty will have served 14 years as moderator when he decides whether to run for reelection to his Precinct 4 seat. He was first elected to Town Meeting in 2011. AT A GLANCE: In the openinvolving passage of the governor’s legislation. Based on a conversation he had several months ago over coffee with state Sen. Senator Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn, whose district represents Saugus), Federico said, he believes it could be more than a year before the governor’s legislation passes. “So, I ask you all to take it upon Town Meeting to protect literally the lives of the children in Saugus as well as the E-bike riders and motor riders that are doing so safely and legally,” Federico said. Precinct 6 Town Meeting Member Alicia Bonito, a pediatric emergency nurse at Mass General Hospital, said she has become “increasingly coning session of the Annual Town Meeting, members took action on a dozen of the 46 articles on this year’s warrant: approving nine articles, indefinitely postponing two and referring one back to its maker. Forty-nine of the 50 members were present for the first night’s proceedings, which lasted more than three hours. Precinct 3 Town Meeting Member Leonard Fercerned about the amount of injuries in the pediatric population due to motorized electric bikes.” “I have witnessed firsthand the explosion of accidents, including massive head injuries, internal bleeding, traumatic fractures and death,” Bonito said. “Nearly all of these injuries are preventable. Enforcement is deterrents. Having a bylaw with comprehensive language helps guide us,” she said. “I hope you share my sense of urgency before another tragedy occurs,” she said. Precinct 8 Town Meeting Member Arthur Grabowski said he noticed unsafe E-bike behavior just outside Town Hall on Monday night before Town rari, Jr., the pitching coach of Lasell University in Maine, reported he couldn’t make the meeting because of a baseball game in Maine. A SPECIAL COLOR GUARD: Three members of Saugus Youth Football and Cheer U-10 Cheering Squad, the 2025 Regional winners, 2025 Nationals that placed third in the country, Hadley Nichols, FranchesMeeting. “I saw people on electric bicycles and motorized bicycles going up and down the sidewalk. They had to be going 20 to 30 miles an hour. And God help anybody, especially an elderly person, that was in their way,” Grabowski said. As a Denver Street resident, Grabowski said, he frequently observes reckless conduct by kids on E-bikes during school days. “Between 7:30 and 8 o’clock in the morning going to the High School and at 2:30 in the afternoon, coming back from the school on Denver Street it’s like a Daytona 500,” Grabowski said. “You see kids on their bikes … even on their scooters, are riding two to a person on a ca Lincoln and Ava Doherty. The three girls have personal connections to Town Meeting Members. Ava is the granddaughter of Town Moderator Stephen Doherty. Hadley is the daughter of Precinct 1 Town Meeting Member Ashley Nichols. Franchesca is the daughSESSION ONE | SEE PAGE 3 scooter, which I can’t see how safe that is with no helmets. And God help the poor pedestrian or the motor vehicle operator who gets in an accident and has to have that on their conscience about hitting some irresponsible person who is out there terrorizing the community,” he said. “Motor vehicles are enough of a problem. But the proliferation of these motorized bicycles on our streets and sidewalks is getting out of hand,” he said. Precinct 1 Town Meeting Member Sue Palomba said she wonders why she frequently sees E-bikes on the town rail trail despite a sign that says “no motorized vehicles.” Several Selectmen called on Town Meeting to approve Article 33. Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta said she reached out to other communities to see if they had adopted E-bike regulations. She learned they are waiting for the state to take action. “I think we need to put something on the books,” Panetta said. “We can always amend it later,” she said. As a frequent walker on the rail trail, Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Anthony Cogliano noted of his observations “this is obviously a problem throughout the town.” Cogliano called Marchese’s article “a step in the right direction.” Selectman Jeff Cicolini called the reckless conduct by some E-bike riders “a bone of contention for a lot of people in the community.” Cicolini said he “fully supported” the article, which he believed was “best for the community.”
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