Mansfield moderator stepping down after over three decades

Saquet, who has been overseeing town meetings since 1987, said he feels now is the time to “pass the gavel” to a successor.

He thanked “all the townspeople who, over the many years, have shown confidence” in his ability to preside over the most basic legislative body in the nation — the open town meeting.

Saquet also said he has found participating “in this very democratic form of government to be one of the most satisfying ventures” he has ever set out on.

He has been a longtime member of the Massachusetts Moderators Association, having served as its president, and has helped mentor many of his young colleagues around the state.

Saquet and his family have been Mansfield residents since moving to the town in 1967, and he has been an active participant in local government for over a half-century.

He first became involved in 1970 when he was appointed to a building committee to replace the old town hall and police station that burned.

He subsequently led a petition drive to draw up a new town charter and was elected to the commission that developed the charter adopted in 1973.

Contributing to the blueprint for town government is one of his proudest achievements, Saquet said.

One of the charter’s most significant features was the creation of a permanent municipal building committee, to which he was appointed and served on until his election as moderator.

The committee proved so successful dozens of towns across the state have since established similar ones.

Saquet said he plans to continue attending town meetings as a “back bencher” and is willing to mentor whoever succeeds him as moderator.

Saquet also plans to devote more time to his family and his business, the Eggers Furniture Co. in Middleboro, which he has owned and managed for over 40 years.

He added he will now be able to plan vacations without waiting for town meeting dates to be determined.

“I’ve worked with Bob Saquet for close to nine years. Right from the beginning it was obvious that he loves Mansfield. He is a wealth of knowledge about the history of the Mansfield, town meetings and politics,” Town Clerk Marianne Staples said.

“We would meet at the high school before Town Meeting and just talk for a while about Mansfield always with a gleam in his eye. I’ve learned so much from him. I will miss his charisma and good nature as we worked together preparing for Town Meeting. He knew and respected my needs as Town Clerk and worked in sync with me through the whole process. It was an honor and a privilege to work with him.

“Bob’s desire to ‘pass the gavel’, as he says, is well deserved and I look forward to working with his successor,” Staples added.

Other town officials were full of praise for Saquet as well.

"In good times and bad, Bob Saquet ran Town Meeting with unique grace and humor. Whether dealing with town officials or Town Meeting voters, he is always a gentleman," Select Board Chairman Frank DelVecchio said. "Through his service, not only as Moderator but as a member of the Charter Commission and the Municipal Building Committee, his fondness for Mansfield was and is apparent. His public service is much appreciated by a grateful town."

In last year’s election, Saquet retained his town meeting post, capturing 1,748 votes to Kostas Loukos’s 1,318.

Loukos has already taken out and returned nomination papers to run for the one-year moderator position in the May 11 election, Staples said.

He has served on the conservation commission and ran for the board of selectmen in 2018.