HomeMy Public PortalAbout20140513 - Cemetery Commission - Meeting MinutesCEMETERY COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
MAY 13, 2014
PRESENT: Lynn Fournier, Chairman, Thomas Pratt, Claire Wright
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M.
Cemetery Trees ‐ John Westerling, DPW director, came before the commission to report
that town tree warden Paul Gleason wishes to remove 7 maple trees from Mt. Auburn
Cemetery that are dead or dying and pose a public hazard. He said one is located near the
Gettysburg monument, one near St. John’s cemetery, one near the abutter’s wall, and 4
near the garage. He said the condition of another is questionable. Mr. Pratt asked who will
pay the expenses, and Mr. Westerling said it will come from the tree warden’s FY 2015
budget for tree removal. He said they can be removed as of July 2014. It was moved and
voted unanimously to approve the removal of 7 – 8 dead trees at Mt. Auburn, under the
direction of the tree warden and the DPW.
Records Management –Mr. Westerling said he is worried about the Cemetery Dept. having
all paper records. He said the Water & Sewer Dept. scanned all their records and now have
them online. He guessed at a cost of perhaps $3,000 for 3,000 records and said he could
check in the field on prices and services. He stated that the town has a strategic initiative
and cemetery records scanning could be a project. He said town IT Director Chris McClure
has managed such projects for the town. Mr. Westerling said he’d be willing to work with
the Commission to shepherd such a project as a budget initiative or perhaps as a CPC
historic preservation proposal. If done as a budget initiative, he said budgets are due in
December, so the plans would have to be prepared in Sept. or Oct.
Perpetual Care & Lot Maintenance – Ms. Wright suggested to Mr. Westerling that perhaps
Perpetual Care funds equivalent to some of the DPW’s staff time could be used for staff to
do individual lot maintenance such as lot levelling & stone straightening that would prevent
stones from falling over and breaking and creating larger, more expensive, repair issues.
She said this is an intended form of perpetual care. She suggested that a few day’s time
each year devoted to such work would be a big help in preserving the at‐risk historic stones.
Mr. Westerling questioned how the other DPW staff jobs would get done while this work
was going on, and Ms. Wright said the funding would cover the cemetery work, while
perhaps extra summer staff could pick up the other responsibilities. She noted that lot
levelling is one of the standard tasks done by cemetery staff. Mr. Westerling left the
meeting at this time.
Trust Fund Proposal –The commissioners discussed the change in appearance that the
removal of the row of four shade trees at Mt. Auburn will cause. Ms. Wright presented a
quote from Weston Nurseries to replace the trees and suggested putting in a proposal to
the Holman Trust Fund. Ms. Wright made a motion to request of the Holman Trust funding
for 4 maple trees, preferably of large caliper at $349 each, plus watering bags, for
replacement planting at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. It was seconded by Mr. Pratt and passed
unanimously.
Buy‐Back Revolving Fund –Ms. Wright reported that Town Meeting passed a budget item to
establish a revolving fund of $4,000 to provide resources for the buy‐back of unwanted
cemetery lots. This will allow the town to issue a repurchase check to the seller for the
original cost and eventually resell the lots at today’s prices.
Correspondence – Members reviewed and discussed a letter received from a citizen
commenting about the many oversized gardens around headstones at Evergreen Cemetery,
which are in violation of cemetery rules and some consider unsightly. The commissioners
concurred that it is difficult to regulate and would engender much ill will if the gardens were
required to be removed or removed by cemetery staff. It was also noted that the cemetery
staff probably would not want to stir up such controversy. Members agreed to ask cemetery
staff if it creates a difficult mowing problem and if perhaps they wish to begin enforcing the
rule in the new section of Mt. Auburn as new plots are developed.
Approval of the minutes from the meeting of Jan 23, 2014 was postponed until the next
meeting. No future meeting date was set, pending new items.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Claire Wright
Secretary
Approved: Nov. 12, 2014