Page 4 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, June 28, 2019 Wheelabrator shuts down plant to correct noise problems By Mark E. Vogler W heelabrator Technologies, Inc. shut down its trash-to-energy incinerator on Route 107 in Saugus this week to make repairs to solve noise problems which have bothered residents in Saugus and Revere over the past two weeks. “Today, the Wheelabrator Law Offices of Terrence W. Kennedy 512 Broadway, Everett • Criminal Defense • Personal Injury • Medical Malpractice Tel: (617) 387-9809 Cell: (617) 308-8178 twkennedylaw@gmail.com 8 Norwood St. Everett (617) 387-9810 www.eight10barandgrille.com Kitchen Hours: Mon-Thurs: 12-10pm Fri-Sat: 12-11pm Sunday: 1pm-10pm Lunch Menu! Enjoy our Famous $10 Served Mon. thru Fri. ‘til 3:30 PM Choose from 16 Items! Grilled Rib Eye Steak! Only $22.00 includes Two Sides Every Friday FRESH HADDOCK DINNER Prepared Your Way! Includes two sides Facebook.com/ advocate.news.ma Now Featuring our BREAKFAST PIZZA & OMELET MENU Saturday & Sunday Only Served until 3:30 PM Saugus waste-to-energy facility will stop processing waste and remain offline until an enhanced silencer is delivered and installed,” Wheelabrator Director of Communications & Community Engagement Michelle Nadeau said in a statement issued by the company Wednesday. “The facility is in the process of making unavoidable repairs SHAME | FROM PAGE 1 the 21 school custodians who work in the Saugus Public Schools. And the Saugus High School student broke down in tears while sympathetic spectators at Wednesday morning’s School Committee meeting said members should be ashamed of themselves after a 3-2 vote to privatize custodial services. Olivia was among about 40 people who showed up for the 7:15 a.m. Executive Session meeting in the Roby School Building. The group – which included students, parents, teachers, custodians and others who support them – hung around for about three hours while the committee and Saugus Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi, Jr. met behind closed doors. After a resounding vote at Monday night’s Special Town Meeting supporting on a nonbinding resolution to oppose privatization, there was still hope School Committee members would be influenced to back off any plans to replace the custodians with a private company. Those hopes were heightened by the results of Olivia’s online petition drive on change.org which had already gathered more than 3,500 signatures as of yesterday (see related story) calling for the reinstatement of the custodians. Another petition drive initiated by former Saugus School Committee Member Corinne Riley has already acquired more than 600 signatures opposing privatization and supporting the custodians. and businesses was instead being vented safely into the air,” Nadeau said. “Although the steam was State Rep. RoseLee Vincent to a steam turbine. During the repair process, steam that would normally power the turbine to create clean, renewable energy for local homes vented through a silencer to reduce sound to the required standard, the venting was still noticeable in some neighborhoods located in close proximity to our facility. An enhanced silencer is being shipped to the facility and it will be installed as early as tomorrow (Thursday) by crews working around the clock. The facility will remain out of operation until this work is completed,” she said. “Well over 100 complaints” State Rep. RoseLee Vincent (D-Revere), whose 16th SufWHEELABRATOR | SEE PAGE 20 LAST STAND FOR CUSTODIANS: Olivia Tamagna, 16, a Saugus High School student, makes a final appeal to the School Committee on Wednesday morning – supporting the custodians over privatization. Three of the five committee members, Chair Jeannie Meredith and members Linda Gaieski and Marc Magliozzi, voted in favor of privatization. Lisa Morgante and Vice-Chair Elizabeth Marchese supported the custodians. A student makes her case “We have a community that stands together to say this isn’t what we want,” Olivia told the School Committee after they allowed her to address them before a formal vote was taken. “And it won’t ever be, no matter what happens. We like the people who support us and work with us. We don’t want to see them go,” she said. “Outsourcing these custodians wouldn’t be what’s best for us, the Saugus students. No matter what the paperwork says, these are people who are important to us and who are vital for our community and our school environment,” she said. But in the face of overwhelming public support for the school custodians and mounting criticism that the process for privatization has not been a public one, the School Committee adopted a vote that was made in secret session during a May 8 Executive Session that two committee members believe was illegal and violated the state Open Meeting Law. Committee Member Linda Gaieski read the motion, which she represented as the action taken by the committee at that May 8 meeting: “Outsource the custodial duties of the Saugus Public Schools with a private cleanSHAME | SEE PAGE 5
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