Princeton Cemetery Commission
Meeting – Monday – February 13, 2012
Town Hall Annex
Minutes
February 23, 2012
Present: Lou Trostel, Susan Olilla, Dave Milton, Lynne Grettum, Paul Constatino and Bruce Rollins.
The meeting was convened at 7:06 PM in the Annex
The minutes from the December 2011 meeting were approved.
Superintendent’s Report
Bruce is investigating additional signage for the cemeteries. The current small wooden ones are minimal. He found metal ones would be about $1750 each which we all felt was more than we wanted to expend. He will continue to check out other sign/material systems to have the signs ready for this spring.
He will review, after the winter “snows” are gone, with the Conservation Commission people, the limits of “wetlands” in Woodlawn Cemetery in the area coming in from Boylston Ave in the cemetery expansion area.
The equipment inventory list and projected replacement cycles were discussed. Bruce will have an updated list for our next meeting. He does not see major equipment purchase needs for the next year.
FY13 Budget
It is time to submit our budget for FY13 to the Town Manager. Bruce has spoken to the accounting group about splitting the Superintendent and Cemetery Labor account into these two lines. They are currently shown as one lumped sum
Bruce is concerned that there will be sufficient funds included in FY13 budget to do a uniformly adequate maintenance job in all the cemeteries. The current level of funding leaves some of the outlying cemeteries with less maintenance than the more central larger ones.
Expenses should be similar in ’13. These previously included direct burial costs however, as of this year, these direct burial expenses are covered by the burial charges.
Expenditures from the several trusts were discussed. Most trusts are relatively small and some are quite limited in what they may be used for. The question of spending the accrued interest from the trusts vs. the principal was discussed. We decided we should ask the town’s Trustees of Trusts to attend one of our meetings and give us guidelines on the Trusts’ expenditures.
Lot Buy-Back Program
Lynne will inquire what other towns’ programs are to give us guidance. There is an inquiry about selling back to the town 3 lots that were purchased some time ago.
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Cemetery Improvements
Bruce has been working rebuilding the Ball Hill Road stone wall at South Cemetery. He has moved it back about 6 feet further from the road so it is not so likely to be knocked down by the winter’s snow plowing and to provide a better parking area off the road. He will purchase some additional stone to continue the wall rebuild and repair.
DCR Brochure on Historic Cemeteries Preservation
A brochure was received from DCR describing a number of programs and grants/sources. A copy should be forwarded to the Historic Commission to aid their work in preserving our cemeteries.
Next Meeting
We plan to meet next on Monday March 19th at 7:00 pm at the Annex.
The meeting was adjourned about 8:09 pm.
L J Trostel Jr, Secretary/Chairman
Pccminutes021312
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