THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2021 Page 13 RATING | FROM PAGE 1 teleconferencing at the request of Town Moderator Steve Doherty, amid health concerns about COVID-19. Another article would authorize the payment of unpaid bills from previous years. There are also articles to appropriate matching funds on a grant and to make a supplementary appropriation to be used on a Saugus Cable TV audit. “As the Fiscal Year 2021 general fund budget was prepared for Town Meeting’s approval, the pandemic had been ongoing for three months, and steps were taken to minimize the impact on the ensuing Fiscal Year 2021 operating budget,” Crabtree wrote in a report he prepared for the Finance Committee. “What remained uncertain at that time was what the revenue estimates were going to look like for state aid, local receipts and new growth due to the pandemic,” Crabtree said. In order to continue town services to residents and stabilize current staffing levels, Crabtree said, the town used $1.4 million from the Stabilization Fund back in May to balance the budget for the 2022 fiscal year that began July 1. This year’s Annual Town Meeting approved that transfer with the understanding that it was a priority to reSPECIAL TREE | FROM PAGE 2 oid crisis we all face,” said Meredith, who plans to spend tonight at the petting zoo that will be set up for children to get close to animals. “Greg Nickolas had a huge heart with a strong faith foundation. He was a huge asset to our town and Saugus suffers a terrible loss with his passing,” she said. Nickolas was a lifelong town GARDENS | FROM PAGE 12 hoods. One extends its branches over the little free library on Lincoln Avenue in East Saugus, and both green leafed and purple leafed varieties can also be seen here and there in other parts of town. The most famous European beech in Massachusetts was probably the Prince of Wales beech at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, which lived over 140 years but was removed in 2011 due to disease. It was ceremonially planted during a visit to North America in 1860 by Queen Victoria’s eldest son, who later became King Edward VII. American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is fairly common in Breakheart Reservation. The foplenish these funds later “in order not to jeopardize our current AA+ bond rating,” Crabtree said in his presentation. “We did this rather than using free cash at the time, minimizing impact to the year-end financial statements,” he said. Crabtree noted that the town used the same fiscal strategy in crafting the 2021 fiscal year budget a year earlier: Town Meeting in June 2020 approved use of money from the Stabilization Fund as an alternative funding source and came back last December to rescind that vote and use free cash once it had been certified by the state Department of Revenue. As the town prepares to set a tax rate for the current fiscal year, Crabtree said, the use of $1.4 million in free cash “is a more prudent financing source for balancing the Fiscal Year 2022 budget and allows us to leave the Stabilization Fund intact.” Finance Committee Chair Kenneth DePatto said he agrees that restoring the Stabilization Fund money was the correct move. “We’re happy to see us put it back in there and keep our bond rating where it belongs,” said DePatto. He added that this strategy may lead to the town being rewarded with a AAA bond rating someday. DePatto said the town’s fiscal stability has imresident and a 1981 Saugus High School graduate. Prior to his appointment to the youth director’s job, he worked six years as a case worker for Saugus Public Schools. In recent years, he joined the list of past and current town employees who served on the 50-member Town Meeting. In March of 2019, four Town Meeting members in Precinct 3 elected him to fill out the final nine months of Steven W. Murphy’s two-year term. Murphy’s liage during the summer on this species is green, but in November the leaves turn a golden color, sometimes changing to caramel, before falling for winter. Both beech species can be easily identified in winter by their long, narrow buds, although our native tree has more elongated buds than the European species. The gray bark also helps to identify a beech. Beech bark remains relatively smooth even in old age and does not develop deep furrows as many other tree species do. As cold weather draws the growing season to a close, there is still plenty to celebrate in the landscape. Hannukah this week has been greeted with lights in many homes, and tonight will see the lighting of many trees in Sauproved significantly since the days when “no one wanted to loan us money.” Crabtree said the strategy has paid off for Saugus, enabling the town to borrow money at a better rate, saving millions of dollars in interest costs. Article 3 on Monday night’s Special Town Meeting agenda requests the appropriation of $200,000 from certified free cash as matching funds to a grant the town received from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for repair of the Spring Pond Dam. Engineers at Weston & Sampson have identified numerous deficiencies, including insufficient spillway design flood capacity, possible seepage at the foot of the dam, cracking and settling of the road on the dam crest, and a deteriorated headwall and splash pad. “The goal of this dam rehab project is to improve the condition from Poor Condition to Good Condition,” Crabtree wrote in his report. “By doing this project we will reduce the potential negative environmental impacts to the surrounding area due to a dam breach. The Town has committed $114,000 in funding toward the design and permitting of the rehabilitation of this dam and would like to complete the project,” he said. The grant awarded the town seat became vacant when he decided to move away. In the town’s biennial election, two years ago, Nickolas ran and got elected to his Precinct 3 seat and was going to be on the ballot in this year’s election to seek another two-year term. Besides his wife, Deborah Mae Nickolas, who works as a senior clerk at Town Hall, Nickolas leaves a son, Mason, and a daughter, Jackie, and her fiancé, Corey Nugent. gus Center and Christmas decorations popping up at homes and businesses in town. There are still flowers blooming in some gardens, and when I stopped at the Iron Works this afternoon a robin perched in a leafless tree was singing. Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking. $261,950, which is 75 percent of the original construction cost estimate of $349,278, according to Crabtree. As a condition of the grant, the town is required to appropriate a grant match of at least 25 percent. But due to the cost escalation from March to November, the town will need to provide more money, bringing the total of the town’s share to $200,000. Finance Committee Member Theresa Katsos said the project was supposed to take place when Andrew Bisignani was town manager about a decade ago. Article 4 seeks $10,815.58 for payment of unpaid bills from previous years. Article 5 seeks an additional appropriation of the Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Access Enterprise Fund to cover the contract price for completion of an audit of the construction of the new PEG Access Studio of Saugus Cable TV. At the June 2020 Annual Town Meeting, members voted to approve $25,000 for funding the audit. Since then, the town has contracted with an accounting firm whose contract price for completion of the report is $39,872. Finance Committee members wanted to know the reason for the huge cost increase for the audit. “I don’t think it’s any surprise,” Crabtree said, explaining that the funds were requested “as a placeholder” in the budget before one of the selectmen prepared specifications for the contract. He also noted that it's not costing the town any money, but comes out of the PEG Access Enterprise Fund, which is funded by Comcast. Mom’s Cancer Fighting Angels to host third annual holiday fundraiser on Dec. 4 O n Saturday, December 4, at 5 p.m., the Mom’s Cancer Fighting Angels Relay for Life team will be hosting its third annual Christmas fundraiser at Fuddruckers on Route 1 in Saugus. The event will feature country radio station 102.5 WKLB, raffles, trivia and more. This year, Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive on board one of the North Pole Fire Department trucks. In addition, the Saugus High School acapella group will be singing Christmas carols. The team is honored to be working with the Massachusetts Pink Patch Project as well. This year they are asking everyone to please bring a new, unwrapped gift for a child with cancer. Fuddruckers will be generously donating 20 percent of all sales to the American Cancer Society. Anyone with questions should contact Guy Moley at 781-640-1310. OBITUARIES Theresa L. (Leuci) Whittredge Age 47, died at the Tufts Medical Center in Boston on Thursday, November 25. She was the beloved wife of Thomas Whittredge with whom she shared 17 years of marriage. Born in Everett and a lifelong resident of Saugus, Mrs. Whittredge was the daughter of Paul Leuci and his wife Cheryl of Saugus and Bonnie (Young) Leuci of Revere. She had been a legal assistant at Ropes and Grey for 22 years and was known as the First Lady of the Saugus Little League. In addition to her husband and parents, Theresa is survived by her two children, Brody and Finley Whittredge; two sisters, Patricia "Patty" Rodrigues of Mendon and Linda Simpson of VA. She is also survived by many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations in Theresa's memory may be made to the Dana Farber Cancer Center at danafarber.jimmyfund.org.
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