Louis Gitto To Push For New Stoughton Fire Station Right Away

STOUGHTON, MA — Louis Gitto has been involved in Stoughton's town government for nearly 50 years, including four terms as a member of the select board. And after some time away, Gitto is back for a fifth, with voters electing him to the post in Tuesday night's special election.

Gitto said he was inspired to come back to help solve a "decade-old" issue — Stoughton needing a new fire station. The station on Freeman Street was built in 1927, and Gitto said it's in"deplorable condition." Gitto said he's already taking steps to try to make a new station a reality.

"I think I need to get into the details on the things that are before us,"Gitto said. "I hope to start that right away. I sent a note to the town manager right away asking where we were in dealing with the fire station."

"What do we know about the location?" Gitto added. "What do we know about plans for the building, and where do we stand in terms of knowing about financing?"

Gitto returns to the select board after defeating Mark Zamanian 702 votes to 506, according to unofficial results. Though voter turnout was low at 5.8 percent, Gitto said he appreciated the support he got, considering the special election was on the first day of summer.

"We got a pretty good turnout, not in turns of total votes, but in percentage," Gitto said. "Having a town election the first day of summer is very unusual. It's right after schools closes, so a whole lot of people are focused on what they're going to do for the summer. "I don't fault the voters for not all flocking to the polls."