TOWN MEETING | FROM PAGE 1 Page 2 ed that completion of Phase Two would enable the town to present the project to town voters in an understandable fashion. “This is a priority for the town. We need a plan so Town Meeting and the public can be educated on it,” the town manager said. Context Architecture, a Boston-based firm with experience in developing the designs for public safety buildings around the state, several weeks ago at a public meeting presented the findings of a study that analyzed existing Saugus Fire Department response times and incident coverage to determine the feasibility of a new fire station/EMS public safety building and where such a facility could be located to best serve THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, MAy 9, 2025 the town’s public safety needs. No specific sites were identified publicly by Context Architecture, which is expected to work on Phase Two. Part of this study will narrow the number of sites down to a preferred location in northwest or southwest Saugus. A $1.2 million investment already Saugus Fire Chief Michael Newbury and Saugus Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli sat in the second floor auditorium for Town Meeting discussion of Article 6. But their testimony was not needed. Nobody spoke in opposition to the article, which read as follows: Vote to recommend $825,000 to be appropriated for the feasibility study for a third fire staLawrence A. Simeone Jr. Attorney-at-Law ~ Since 1989 ~ * Corporate Litigation * Criminal/Civil * MCAD * Zoning/Land Court * Wetlands Litigation * Workmen’s Compensation * Landlord/Tenant Litigation * Real Estate Law * Construction Litigation * Tax Lien * Personal Injury * Bankruptcy * Wrongful Death * Zoning/Permitting Litigation 300 Broadway, Suite 1, Revere * 781-286-1560 lsimeonejr@simeonelaw.net tion/West Side Public Safety and EMS Response Facility including the payment of costs incidental or related thereto; that to meet this appropriation, the Treasurer with the approval of the Board of Selectmen is authorized to borrow said amount under G.L. c44s7(1) or any other enabling authority; that the Town Manager is authorized to take any other action necessary or convenient to carry out this project. Precinct 10 Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian presented a seven-word amendment to the article that inserted the words “inclusive of design development and schematic design” after the words “related thereto;”. “What the amendment does is memorialize the language,” Manoogian said. With the appropriation of the $825,000 for Phase Two of the feasibility study, the town will have a substantial investment before the town ever gets to vote on the project. “It will be a challenge for the community,” Manoogian said. “I’m sure some of us have thought long and hard about the possibility that we could be spending $1.2 million on something that the voters could say ‘No’ to,” Manoogian said. “Unlike the school [the new Saugus Middle-High School], which was a debt exclusion, this is going to be both a debt exclusion and a Proposition 2 ½ override, which is something that the town has never passed. The voters will in effect be asked to raise their taxes permanently for this for the manpower, which they didn’t support back in the mid 90’s,” he said. Manoogian was referring to the Town Meeting vote that approved the acquisition of property on the west side of Saugus and funds for a third fire station to go on the property while voting against funds to staff the fire station. “So, what this does is it makes clear what our expectations are for what we will receive in the actual article. But it also will provide, when it’s done, the evidence. This is going to be a political process at some point,” Manoogian said. “My understanding, we will not be asked for any more money. Any money for other aspects of the design – architectural, soil testing – will be part of the debt exclusion itself. So this will be the last amount of funding that will be necessary to have those facts before the voters,” he said. “And, at some point, many of us – hopefully, all of us – will have to articulate this to our constituents and to the public at large as to what that design looks like. We will have something to hold up and show, just like the school project.” Trying to avoid local politics Precinct 4 Town Meeting Member Robert J. Long, a longtime participant in town government who has been involved in past discussions about a third fire station, wanted to know the composition of the latest town committee that worked on the latest proposal. He also wanted to know the locations that the consultant is considering. Crabtree told Long that the committee consists of himself, the two public safety chiefs and the consultant that completed Phase 1. “I’m not saying I don’t support the article,” Long said. “I’m saying this should not be left exclusively to people who aren’t elected officials,” he said. Crabtree said he doesn’t oppose adding additional people to the committee. “I’m opposed to making it political,” Crabtree said. “This is about identifying what the problem is and putting a plan together. We’re going to try to keep it from becoming political,” he said. Crabtree blamed local politics for interfering with progress throughout the history of Saugus. He said the town had the same problem with the schools, the dog park and the rail trail. As far as potential locations for a public safety facility, Crabtree said the consultant did an analysis of 14 locations, but hasn’t made a decision yet. “There are professionals working on this,” Crabtree said. “We’re going to follow what the evidence is,” he said. Crabtree also noted that town officials need to convince a majority of Saugus voters that the project will benefit all residents – not just those in the west side of town where the fire station/public safety facility will be built. The challenge is demonstrating to voters how the facility will benefit the entire town, according to Crabtree. “Over 90 percent of our calls are EMS,” Crabtree said. That matters to every resident, especially when somebody is having a stroke or a heart attack, he said. “It’s about having a public safety building that benefits all of us. People need to start thinking about this globally. It affects all of us,” he said.
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