Page 4 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, November 15, 2019 Search for a new police chief Crabtree tells selectmen he will consider hiring a company to help find a permanent replacement for former Chief DiMella By Mark E. Vogler I n more than a year of serving as interim police chief, Assistant Police Chief Ronald Giorgetti has been “doing a great job.” Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree told the new Board of Selectmen in a two-hour briefing Wednesday night. Crabtree, a former police officer, said “it was a natural thing to put him there” to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Chief Domenic DiMella in September of last year. “I think he’s handled it real well,” Crabtree said of Giorgetti’s leadership and how he stabilized the department while an outside company had been conducting an organizational study of the department. Crabtree said his strategy was to appoint Giorgetti as the acting chief “to settle things 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 Come in & Enjoy our Famous... $12 LUNCH Menu! Choose from 16 Items! Served Monday thru Thursday until 3:30 PM Grilled Rib Eye Steak! Only $22.00 includes Two Sides Every Friday FRESH HADDOCK DINNER Prepared Your Way! Includes two sides Catch the NFL on our 10 TV’s! BRIEFING THE BOARD: Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree updates new selectmen on ongoing priorities and projects – including his plans to begin a search early next year for a new police chief. (Saugus Advocate Photo by Mark E. Vogler) down” while the study was being done. The town manager said he will now be using that organizational study “as a guide or roadmap to bringing that new chief in.” “We have three or four that might be interested in the chief’s job,” Crabtree told selectmen. “Definitely a few months. It’s definitely going to be a few months,” Crabtree said, when asked if he had a specific timeline. Plans for reorganizing the Police Department and hiring a permanent chief were among some of the major priorities that the town manager discussed during a two-hour briefing of the Board of Selectmen. Much of the talk was an update of ongoing projects and capital improvement plans that the town manager shared during his final meeting with the previous board last month. Selectman Michael J. Serino asked the town manager about rumors he heard of plans to privatize the Police Department. “You can’t privatize the Police Department,” Crabree responded, adding that he had never heard of such plans. Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony W. Cogliano, Sr. asked Crabtree where there were any plans of making the chief’s position a non-civil service job. Crabtree said he had no such plans. But the town manager said that some people have asked to remove the chief’s position from Civil Service because of some of the challenges of hiring. Correction Quotes about transparency in government and other remarks were misattributed last week to Selectman Debra C. Panetta after a sub-headline identifying another successful candidate for selectman was inadvertently removed from the story. The Advocate regrets the error. The following quote should have been attributed to newly elected Board of Selectmen Vice Chair Corinne R. Riley: “Were there other factors like lack of transparency in government?” “Again, walking door-to-door, listening to the voters, they told me that they did not have faith in the process of how the Custodians were treated. To me, that speaks to the need for transparency. Without that, the voters hold their elected officials accountable by the most powerful method they have – their vote. “Now that the voters have elected me to this Board, I pledge to do my very best to promote transparency and accountability, and to cooperate with the other members of this and other Boards and Committees, employees of the town, State resources, the business community, and most importantly, the people of Saugus, toward all the challenges and opportunities in front of us. “Lastly, thank you to my family, and many friends that helped with my campaign, including those that held signs, loaned me a portion of their front lawn for a month, introduced me to new people, made financial contributions, provided advice and encouragement, and more. Thank you to outgoing members of the Board for all of your time and effort toward making Saugus a better place. Thank you to the many candidates that stepped up to run for BOS, School Committee, Town Meeting, and Housing Authority. The roles of those elected are now clear, and with so many strong candidates that fell just short, I look forward to finding ways that we can harness their ideas, energy, and enthusiasm to make Saugus a better place.” Overall, the Police Department has been undergoing steady improvement as a private company works toward completion of the study, according to Crabtree. He noted that the town has appointed six new officers and is in the process of hiring an additional seven officers. “Things are getting better,” Crabtree said, adding that the Department has received its reaccreditation that the police force is budgeted for 70 officers -- the most in its history. One of the highlights of the townwide speed limit analysis was the recent installation of solar radar speed signs, which Crabtree said have had “a pretty good calming effect” on driving. He said 13 of the solar speed signs have been installed while three more have been ordered.
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