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Newton Town Hall
2 Town Hall Road – P.O. Box 378
Newton, NH 03858
Minutes of Trustee’s March 26, 2009 Meeting
Members present: Bill Landry, Ron Saunders, Mike Hughes
Meeting called to order at 4:20 PM. at the Newton Town Hall
NEW BUSINESS:
- New Trustee Michael W. Hughes
Newly elected trustee Mike Hughes was welcomed to the board. Mike’s primary assignment in his first year will be to familiarize himself with all facets of the trustee’s functions. In particular, he will focus on the sale of cemetery plots, record keeping, dealing with local funeral homes and other businesses involved in burials.
William Landry was elected Chairman and Secretary for 2009. The nomination was made by R. Saunders and seconded by M. Hughes. Motion unanimously passed.
A few trees and many large limbs were felled by the ice storm of Dec. 11, 2008 at the Highland and Willow Grove Cemeteries. On April 5th trustees Landry and Saunders will cut up this debris and place it at the roadside for pick up by the town Road Dept.
The 2008 budget and actual expenditures were reviewed. Of the $9,100. in the default budget, $9,021. were spent. The planned and anticipated expenditures of the $11,410. 2009 default budget were reviewed.
- WARRANT ARTICLE # 32 (Resurfacing of Highland Cemetery roadway)
Due to the muddy condition of the roadway, approximately 60 % of the road has been closed to vehicular traffic until that section can be resurfaced. Per Mike Pivero, the Newton Road Agent, he anticipates performing the work as soon as the ground has completely thawed; probably two or three weeks.
- 2009 CEMETERY MAINTENANCE
The 2009 budget allows for an additional two mowings and trimmings at each of the three cemeteries. (Highland, Willow and Town Hall)
The same procedure used in ’08 for scheduling maintenance will be used in ’09. The trustees will monitor the condition of the cemeteries and schedule maintenance accordingly. The intent is to ensure our limited funds last the entire season.
- CEMETERY RULES AND REGULATIONS:
The trustees, prior to the meeting, did a thorough review of the current rules and regulations. As a result, one (1) was amended and one (1) new rule was added.
CHANGE: (Rules & Regulations - Sec. 4, A-4) Change is in red.
“In the case of cremation interment, the maximum number of creation type interments shall be four (4) per grave. In the case of combining full and cremation burials, only one cremation burial will be allowed. However, the number of cremations may be increased to as many as four at the discretion of the Cemetery Trustees”.
Addition: (Monuments & Other Structures – Sec. G - 5)
“Only signs pertaining to the operation of the cemeteries shall be allowed to be posted on cemetery property. Any sign not meeting this criteria will be removed and discarded by the Cemetery Trustees.”
Motion was made to accept the rule changes by Ron Saunders and seconded by Mike Hughes.
Motion unanimously passed.
- Two gross of Veteran grave marker flags have been ordered.
- Prior to Memorial Day the Veteran flags will be place at the Highland, Willow Grove, Town Hall and Farmer Cemeteries. The fourth grade class at the Newton Memorial School will place the flags at Willow Grove; the Newton Historical Society will place the flags at the other cemeteries. Flags for the Union Cemetery will be given to a representative of that cemetery for placement.
- Flower displays will be planted at the Willow Grove Cemetery prior to the Memorial Day parade.
- In past years the flags at the cemeteries were lowered to half-staff from dawn to dusk on Memorial Day. Trustee Hughes stated that the rules governing the display of flags at half-mast on that day state they would fly at half-mast from dawn to noon. This change in our procedure will be made this year.
- Trustee Hughes also advised that rules governing the display of the small veteran flags stated that the flags should be displayed only one week prior to Memorial Day. A short discussion was held regarding our practice of keeping the flags up year round and how it appears that all cemeteries we have viewed followed the same practice. That fact combined with the public outcry we anticipated from veteran’s families if we followed that rule, led us to decide to continue our current practice. Veteran flags will be left up year round and the trustees will attempt to ensure the flags remain in the proper upright position.
- WILLOW GROVE CEMETERY ISSUES:
- A discussion was held regarding the ten year old issue of the double sale of a two grave lot. A single lot sold in 1983 to one family, as part of a three-lot purchase, was resold in 1999 to another family. That same year, the second purchasers buried a family member in the plot.
The trustees will approach the first purchasers and offer them another available lot that abuts their two remaining lots.
- Currently, due to problems with the records and maps of Willow Grove, the sale of lots at the cemetery is prohibited. A review of the cemetery maps as well as the cemetery grounds will be made to determine if it would be possible to reopen the cemetery for lot sales without worry of a recurrence of a situation similar to the one described above.
- REDESIGN LAYOUT / SIZE OF LOTS AT REAR OF HIGHLAND CEMETERY:
At the previous Cemetery Trustee meeting a decision was made to resize the lots in this section of the cemetery. (This would not include lots in which interments have already been made.) It was also decided to review the map and layout a design for the inclusion of roads in the back section.
The new design designates six rows currently containing un-interred burial plots that will be used to create six new roads. The roads will be designated Rows “J” through “O” and run East to West.
Three families have un-interred lots in the proposed roadways. These families will be contacted and arrangements will be made to provide them with suitable replacement lots.
After inclusion of the new roads, the number of graves available for sale in the rear section was reduced from 816 to 556. However, after the size of the graves was changed, the number of available lots now total 794.
Based on the average sales of lots in the Highland Cemetery the past two years, we have sufficient graves for approximately the next fifty years.
A motion was made by Mike Hughes and seconded by Ron Saunders to accept the new lot and road design. Motion was unanimously approved.
Meeting adjourned at 6:30 PM
To be advised
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