Page 2 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, NOVEmbEr 10, 2023 TOWN ELECTION | FROM PAGE 1 M. Gerow and Joseph Dennis Gould – lost their seats. School Committee Chair Vincent A. Serino topped the fi eld of seven candidates to claim his fi rst full two-year term as chair. Former School Committee Member Thomas Richard Whittredge – the top vote-getter in the previous two elections – fi nished just 21 votes behind Serino. He will serve as the committee’s vice chair. Meanwhile, Stephanie Lauren Mastrocola finished 250 votes behind Serino to claim the third spot. Voters reelected John S. Hatch and Ryan P. Fisher to their third consecutive two-year terms. –Thirteen of 19 candidates who challenged incumbents running for reelection in the Town Meeting races were elected. Ten of the 47 Town Meeting members seeking reelection lost their seats in the 50-member chamber. –Nine candidates received 1,045 votes or more to top a fi eld of 27 candidates in the race to fi eld the Charter Commission. Selectman Debra Panetta received 2,219 votes – 440 more than her closest opponent, Selectman Cogliano. But with the defeat of Ballot Question 1 – “Shall a commission be elected to revise the Charter of the Town of Saugus?” – there won’t be a commission activated to consider changes in Saugus local government. Voters decided to reelect Housing Authority Members Maureen Whitcomb and James A. Tozza to new fouryear terms. Whitcomb received 596 more votes than Tozza. And Tozza fi nished 471 votes ahead of the third-place candidate in the race, Nicholas V. Melanchook. The power shift It was just four years ago that Selectman Panetta was seeking a third consecutive term as the chair of the Board of Selectmen. She had fi nished as the top vote-getter in the 2015 and 2017 elections. But Cogliano received close to 700 more votes than Panetta in the 2019 election to claim the board’s leadership position. In the 2021 selectmen’s race, Cogliano fi nished about 325 votes ahead of Panetta to win a second term as chair. But during this year’s politOur 51st Anniversary Dan - 1972 We Sell Cigars & Accessories! ALL MAJOR BRANDS Singles * Tins * Bundles * Boxes * Travel Humidors * Desk Top Humidors * Many Types of Lighters * Ash Trays * Juuls * Vapes * Glass Pipes * Rewards Program * CBD Infused Products * GIFTS UNDER $30 - GIFT CERTIFICATES SMOKER’S DELIGHT! 15 HANDMADE CIGARS! Four-Year-Old Tobacco * 100% Long Filler * Cellophane $49.95 NEW STORE HOURS: Sun. - Wed.: 9AM - 6PM / Thurs. - Sat. 9AM - 7PM R.Y.O. TOBACCO & TUBES ON SALE! WE MAKE HOUSE KEYS! -------------------To All Our Veterans THANK YOU! TH U! Green Label Cigar Sale! Buy 2 Cigars, Get One FREE! THANKSGIVING DAY HOURS: 9AM-2PM A.B.C. CIGAR 170 REVERE ST., REVERE (781) 289-4959 Chris 2023 THE SWEARING-IN: Town Clerk Ellen Schena (right) swore in the new Board of Selectmen during a ceremony in the second fl oor auditorium at Saugus Town Hall on Wednesday (Nov. 8). Pictured from left to right are Board of Selectmen Chair Debra Panetta, Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Jeff rey V. Cicolini and Selectmen Michael Serino, Anthony Cogliano and Corinne R. Riley. (Saugus Advocate photo by Mark E. Vogler) ical campaign, Panetta was clearly the favorite candidate. She received the most votes of any of her opponents in all 10 precincts. And she wound up winning the chair’s seat by her largest margin ever. “I am very grateful to the Saugus voters for putting their faith and trust in me,” Panetta said this week, just hours after celebrating a lopsided win. “I am honored to serve our Saugus residents for another term,” she said. It has been a tough year politically, with a rift developing between the board’s two leaders: Chair Cogliano and Vice Chair Panetta. Tempers fl ared in an October meeting, with the board’s top two leaders engaging in a verbal confrontation where they disparaged each other publicly. Going into this week’s election, there were two major political contests at stake. Cogliano’s campaign for a Charter Commission was the major item on the town election ballot. The next biggest contest was the race for the chairmanship on the Board of Selectmen – the town’s two most prolifi c vote-getters squaring off . But by the end of Election Night, Cogliano had lost both contests. Even if Question 1 had prevailed, it wouldn’t have been much of a victory for Cogliano and the members of the Moving Saugus Forward Committee. Cogliano and Peter Rossetti Jr. were the only TOWN ELECTION | SEE PAGE 6
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