SAUGUS — Town Meeting met for the third time this May, diving into Article 37, which would create a Town Meeting Charter Review Committee.

The Committee would review the existing Saugus Town Charter and recommend any updates or amendments if needed. Selectmen Vice Chair Anthony Cogliano and Selectman Michael Serino sponsored it.

The original article would include 10 Town Meeting members, one from each precinct. These members would be appointed by their fellow five meeting members to represent their precinct. It would also include one School Committee member and two Selectmen in Cogliano and Serino.

First came an opinion from Town Counsel noting that the Committee would not have legally binding authority for charter changes or amendments, as a petition from a percentage of registered voters and a submission of the question to the voters to revise the charter in an election of a charter commission are required under Mass General Laws Chapter 43B.

An amendment was also submitted that would insert a phrase into the article.

The phrase being amended was “The Town Meeting Charter Review Committee will produce a report with any updates or recommendations to be considered at the 2027 Annual Town Meeting.” It would add “inclusive of a minority report if any” after “will produce a report.”

Serino and Cogliano had no issues with the amendment, and it passed.

A second amendment was then brought to the floor by member Matt Parlante, who wished to amend the process by which Town Meeting members were chosen for the Committee.

“A Charter Review Committee should be as independent, balanced, and unbiased as possible. The Town Charter affects every resident and every part of the town government. Because of that, the review process should not be driven by internal politics, alliances, or campaigning within precincts,” he said, stating that it should be done via lottery.

Once again, no issue was seen, and Cogliano stated he and Serino have the best intentions for the town, and he had no problems with either amendment.

Serino then briefly approached the podium after both amendments passed to discuss the Committee.

“I know in 2023 we had a Charter Commission on the ballot, and it failed, but only by about 200 votes… I felt where Selectman Cogliano and I were on the opposite sides of the issue, where the vote was close, and we were both elected to the Charter Committee; at the time I asked if he would want to get together and do a Charter Review Committee like we did… in 2009. I was a member of that Committee,” he said.

Serino noted that in 1926, an amendment to the Constitution created Special Act Charters, which Saugus later adopted in 1947.

“That established an elected representative Town Meeting form of government. Before that, they never had that,” Serino said. “Forty years later, the 1966 amendment to the Constitution created the Home Rule Charter… However, it didn’t cancel out any existing Special Act Charter. They are still grandfathered.”

He explained that any changes made by Town Meeting related to the composition, structure, mode of election, appointment, or terms of office for the legislative body requires a Charter Committee process. He emphasized that the intention isn’t to do that, but to look at the charter and make changes within it.

Article 37 passed with a vote of 41 to 6.