Princeton Cemetery Commission
Meeting – Monday – August 15, 2011
Town Hall Annex
Minutes
August 21, 2011
Present: Lou Trostel, Paul Constantino, Susan Ollila, David Milton and Bruce Rollins. Also present – Lynn Grettum
The meeting was convened at 7:05 PM at the Annex. We had planned on meeting at Meetinghouse Cemetery and Woodlawn Cemetery but showery weather forced us inside.
Superintendent’s Report
There was one cremation burial in July and 2 in August.
There was one full burial in August
Dick Wheeler helped Bruce for several days.
Monument bases – 1 was installed in North and 1 in Woodlawn.
Blue Spruce trees bordering the cemetery near the Ollila lots in Woodlawn are in “tough shape” with many dying/dead areas. The Ollilas would like to help replace these trees. We will discuss planned replacements with some local nurseries.
Lot Buy-Back
The Cody family bought 3 lots in Woodlawn in 1997 but no longer have interest in using them. We should buy them back using funds from our Perpetual Care – Lot Sale funds to increase our inventory of available lots. We will determine the proper form for this transaction. Susan will check on the details of this process in a NYC cemetery she is acquainted with.
Other Cemetery Items
There was a lot mix-up with a previous burial. The problem was resolved with a change in lot ownership.
The steep roadway in North Cemetery has become quite eroded again. Bruce will check with the Highway Department about suggestions to stabilize the roadway. David suggested a chain across the entrance to discourage “hill climbing events” which cause serious erosion.
It was suggested to Susan that a planting buffer might be placed between theirs and a “duplicate” monument.
Records Review with Lynn Grettum
The previous Town Clerk had developed a computer database with the lot numbers and owners as best is known over the last 5/6 years. Some of these records include photos of the headstones on the specific lots.
A number of the old maps we have are quite inconsistent in their presentation of the information.
Work is being done on the North Cemetery database to number the lots.
What other cemetery mapping/records software might there be already developed out-there?
We would like to develop a summary by cemetery of
Total number of lots in that cemetery
Number of lots available for full burials
Number of lots available for cremation burials
Headstone Replacement Program by Historical Commission
The town Historical Commission is engaged in a several year program of headstone repair in Meetinghouse Cemetery. In a number of cases the broken headstones have been removed from the grave sites and laid on the side of the vault in the cemetery. We will inquire about when they plan to return the headstones to the proper lots – as they are not marked at all now.
Next Meeting
We plan to meet next on Monday September 19th at 6:15 pm at Meetinghouse Cemetery and then view Woodlawn Cemetery before reconvening at the Annex to continue our meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.
L J Trostel Jr, Secretary
Pccminutes081511
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