BOARD OF SELECTMEN
JANUARY 24, 2006
The regular meeting of the Monson Board of Selectmen convened at 7:00 p.m. in the conference room at 110 Main Street. In attendance were Kathleen C. Norbut, Richard E. Guertin and Edward S. Harrison. Also present was the media. The Town Administrator was not present.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
Accept Meeting Minutes:
Mr. Harrison made a motion to accept the meeting minutes of January 10, 2006 – open session. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
Christopher Dietz – Discussion Regarding Cemetery Preservation in Monson:
Town resident Christopher Dietz, the Cemetery Superintendent Paul Lovell and the Cemetery Commissioners Albert Wilcox (Vice Chairman) and Robert Pease (Member) approached the Board of Selectmen (the Chairman of the Cemetery Commission, Julian Szarlan, was not present).
Mr. Dietz stated he and his three year old son started walking around Moulton Hill Road Cemetery which is near his home. He and his son began picking up sticks in the cemetery on their walks and the next thing he knew he was into reading the headstones of the people buried there. Mr. Dietz realized a lot of the towns’ history is written on the monuments while noticing at the same time some of the monuments were in pretty bad shape and were deteriorating. Mr. Dietz spoke with the Springfield Cemetery who put him in touch with a gentleman who is with the Notre Dame Cemetery in South Hadley. Mr. Dietz said this gentleman was nice enough to come out to Monson to walk through the cemetery with him. Mr. Dietz explained this gentleman is a third generation mason. He explained to Mr. Dietz how the repairs to the damaged
monuments aren’t as expensive as one would think, if you are a little creative with it. For example, a broken or leaning monument may be laid down horizontally, as they do in many New England cemeteries. Mr. Dietz explained his goal is to come up with a plan to put something in place to repair the monuments before all the history is lost forever. Mr. Dietz said Mr. Lovell does a terrific job and even the mason was impressed as he noticed it appears no one has been hitting the monuments with lawnmowers. Mr. Dietz had met prior to this meeting with the Cemetery Superintendent and Cemetery Commissioners and was told it all comes down to not having enough manpower or funds.
Mr. Dietz said the gentleman from South Hadley explained how approximately thirty years ago a book was put together of all the monuments in the cemeteries in South Hadley. Mr. Dietz took that idea and put together a book on Moulton Hill Road Cemetery. A copy was given to the Cemetery Department, the Board of Selectmen and to the library. The book Mr. Dietz put together contains stories he gathered from the Historical Society, pictures he took of every monument in Moulton Hill Road Cemetery, all the inscriptions he was able to copy from the monuments, measurements of each monument and he noted the type of stone the monument was carved out of. This project only took Mr. Dietz a few days to complete with a cost of approximately $40.00 for film, paper and binders. He would like to continue this project by doing the same thing
for every cemetery in town, possibly doing one cemetery per year.
Mr. Dietz asked Mr. Lovell prior to this meeting, to count all the leaning monuments in all of the cemeteries. Mr. Lovell did so and Mr. Dietz handed the Board of Selectmen a copy of that list. Mr. Guertin stated the list is much smaller then he thought it would be.
Mr. Lovell explained one monument takes quite awhile to straighten, taking two to three hours to dig around the base, raising it, leveling it and backfilling around it. Mr. Lovell explained white marble is very brittle to touch, however he does feel he has the expertise to repair and/or straighten the monuments; he just doesn’t have the manpower. Mr. Lovell said the Cemetery has a small backhoe but a larger backhoe might be needed in some cases. Mr. Dietz explained in some cases where the monument is too weak or too broken to stand it can be laid down as done in Boston and older cemeteries as he mentioned earlier.
Mr. Wilcox said he feels Mr. Dietz has a wonderful idea and thanked him for taking the interest in the town’s cemeteries and explained the Cemetery Department only has one part-time person to assist the full-time Superintendent; therefore there just isn’t enough manpower or funds to repair the monuments. Mr. Guertin wondered if there was a way to start out with a few monuments at a time, even if it takes ten years to complete, possibly starting with the worse monuments and working their way down by possibly using $1,000.00 per year from the Gifts to the Town Account. Mr. Guertin also said he would like Mr. Lovell to could come up with a ten-year plan and possible ways to raise the funds needed. Mr. Pease said any work, particularly cleaning, should be done by a professional. Mr. Pease stated he would sue
anyone touching his monument or any of his family’s monuments as they don’t belong to the town. The Board of Selectmen agreed that was a good point and suggested possibly notifying family members ahead of time by placing a notice in the newspaper stating monument work will begin on the monuments and provide a list of the names engraved on the monuments scheduled for work. Mr. Dietz said he wasn’t referring to cleaning the monuments, but felt out of respect for the deceased and the history carved on them, he felt the monuments should be repaired and/or straightened. It was agreed the work being done would not consist of cleaning. The work to be done would be straightening leaning monuments and repairing broken monuments. Mr. Pease added he feels the leaning monuments add articulation and provide a historic look. He also said the work on the monuments can only be done during the warm months, which is when Mr. Lovell is at his busiest and therefore won’t be
able to oversee the project. Mr. Dietz questioned the abandonment issues on monuments that had been there for over 150 years. Mr. Guertin questioned the perpetual care paid by the lot owners and if the perpetual care paid was intended for maintaining the monuments and keeping them in an upright position. Mr. Lovell explained the Cemetery Department has repaired broken monuments and straightened leaning monuments as it does state it will be done in the rules governing perpetual care, it just hasn’t been done as he doesn’t have the time due to the shortage of manpower, which is due to not having the funding for extra help. Mr. Dietz suggested possibly having Eagle Scouts do some type of volunteer work in the cemetery to assist. Ms. Norbut noted some of the High School students are good with the camera and might be able to take pictures of the monuments and possibly bringing in the people from the Historical Society who are fascinated with this along with family members.
The Board of Selectmen suggest Mr. Dietz work with Mr. Lovell to try to come up with about a dozen of the worst monuments to be done first, a dozen to be done second, a dozen to be done third and so on, prioritizing and to come up with how much this would cost, and try to find a way to carry it out, and for them to bring this information back before the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Guertin said he is supportive of this, but they need to come up with some kind of plan. Mr. Pease noted the Cemetery Department has a problem with normal operation right now as there once were three part-time helpers who assisted two full-time employees, while currently it is down to one full-time employee and one part-time employee. It was agreed by the Board of Selectmen that help is a separate issue and wouldn’t be solved at this meeting. Mr. Dietz said he would be willing to work around Mr. Lovell’s schedule.
“Gifts to the Town” Request - $175.00 for Santa Train Additional Costs:
Ms. Norbut said the Santa Train was very successful again this year thanks to Carolyn Bedard, Bob Richardson and the many volunteers. There were some additional costs having to do with fueling twice and cleaning and therefore are requesting $175.00 from the Gifts to the Town Account to cover that.
Mr. Guertin made a motion to grant the $175.00 request from the Gifts to the Town Account to pay for the extra expenses associated with the Santa Train. Mr. Harrison seconded and it was so VOTED.
Ms. Norbut noted this is a reimbursement to Mr. Richardson who has already covered the costs.
Correspondence was read and completed with no responses being made to any of the items.
In Other Business to Come Before the Board of Selectmen:
Mr. Harrison announced on Thursday February 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the Polish American Citizens Club, there will be a caucus to select delegates to the State Convention to be held in Worcester on June 2nd or 3rd. Anyone who is an eligible democrat as of December 31, 2005 is eligible to be a delegate, if they are so voted at that caucus. Any democrat wishing to attend this caucus is welcome to do so.
Ms. Norbut added if any other political party or affiliation is holding an event, they may send correspondence to the Board of Selectmen, and an announcement will be made to the listening audience.
Also in other business to come before the Board of Selectmen, Ms. Norbut said she wanted to let the community know the Finance Committee, the Department Heads and the Board of Selectmen will be starting to look at the FY ’07 budget during the spring months. Ms. Norbut said there have been some very difficult fiscal times over the past four years, however, the preliminary projections from the Governor’s proposed budget, does look for an increase for Monson. Ms. Norbut explained the way the process works is the Governor releases the budget which he or she proposes. The budget then moves to the House of Representatives who develop a budget. The Senate then develops a budget, and then it comes ideally to a consensus. Ms. Norbut said she is a little bit more optimistic as she starts to look at FY’07. Ms.
Norbut explained she doesn’t feel as though there will be funds for any type of wild spending, even though Monson doesn’t do that even in better times, as Monson maintains a conservative fiscal approach in managing the town, but it may be helpful to restore some of the funding to the departments that have been critically under-funded and hopefully be able to take a more realistic look at some of the capital needs that have been repeatedly pushed aside.
At 7:50 p.m., Mr. Harrison made a motion to adjourn from open session. Mr. Guertin seconded and it was so VOTED.
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Edward S. Harrison, Clerk
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