okay turn on recording in progress good morning today is Thursday June 20th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. and the lunenberg cemetery commission is starting their meeting um I need to read a few things and then we'll stand for the pleasure Allegiance so first and accordance with the requirement of the open meeting law please be advised that the meeting is being recorded and broadcasted live over the lunenberg public ass access channel on Facebook live on the public access Facebook page and will be uploaded to the lunenberg access YouTube after the meeting this meeting will be held in person at the location provided on the notice which is in the bolada meeting room members of the public are welcome to attend this in-person meeting please note that while an option for remote attendance Andor participation is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt the v um virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of the public with with particular interest in any specific item on the agenda should make plans for in person versus virtual attendance accordingly and member of the public who wishes to record a meeting must first notify the chair and must comply with the reasonable requirements regarding audio or video equipment established by the chair so as not to interfere with the meeting the chair is required to inform other attendees of such recording at the beginning of the meeting if someone arrives after the meeting has begun and wishes to record the meeting and the person should attempt to notify the chair prior to beginning recording ideally in a matter that does not significantly disrupt the meeting in progress such as passing a note for the chair the shair should Endeavor to acknowledge such attempts at notification and announce the fact of any recording to these and attendance the agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and those reasonably anticipated by the chair votes may be taken as a result of these discussions not all items listed may be in fact be discussed and other items not listed may be brought up for discussion for the extent permitted by the open meeting Law Public participation is encouraged and public comments may be welcomed during committee uh member discussions at the discretion of the chair please note public comment that you have 3 minutes to give your comment thank you maybe I'll rise for the P Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty justice for all thank you now I don't have anyone that is here recording at this point in time um I'm just looking on Zoom just to see if we have any anybody else here um just logging in to see if there's someone in the background here all right um I'm not sure how much we're going to get done today only because it's uh Heather was supposed to be here I'm looking to see if she's on Zoom I don't see her there I know that bill Bernard is unable to attend today so Heather was going to come in his place so we'll see we'll get started and then we'll see how far we can get um let's go through review and approve the minutes for May 16th if you don't mind there is one typo that I made in it and I've got to fix if we're okay once we go through it and you guys read it um it's on the second page it's that very last paragraph discussed maintenance it should say plan not plane so if everything else is okay somebody's raising their hand we're having some technical difficulties I can see somebody's hand raise but it does not show me who they are or did you read it already yes I read it uh from the email I'm fine yes very good okay make a motion that we approve the minutes from Thursday May 16th I second all in favor I motion passed thank you put that away now I skipped over the public comment my apologies um I'm again I'm seeing it on the computer I have somebody's hands rise raised but there is uh there's nobody here so it looks like we are having some difficulties here so my apologies to that um is there anyone in the backround well I I don't know see that's the problem I can't I can't see I'm mean the office over there yes okay so let's start looking at what was sent to us uh from Bill Bernard we can at least talk about it I know it's and Heather was supposed to be here again to sit with us to go over this with us again she may be the one that's trying to get in somehow on the zoom and is unable to do you have a copy mic CU I have another one if you do not oh okay you have one convenient yep mine the only thing is I did a where that number was wrong oh okay this is the lest okay so again so the the information that was given to us um by Mr Bernard our DPW director um States on June 20th 2024 uh for today's meeting um we have one full burial that was done on June 20th which is today and then we've had three cremations May 30th June 7th and June 10th so I looked back last year in 2023 to see exact pretty much and again you can't tell from year to year because of unfortunately with people passing away but the most that we had last year in 2023 was 10 full burials and 21 and this is for the solid year and 21 cremations um so when we're talking about hours on on the total hours of 179.50 hours um I'm a little confused because again and and Dave um I know that you wanted to ask some questions regarding that um so why didn't I turn it over to you with that yeah the the questions I have um the way he outlined it here there's just the mowing in North Cemetery was 41 hours of mowing 6 hours of trimming 47 hours total but is that for is this for one month is this for a week it doesn't state it says it's a total of 179 and a half man hours but doesn't say the time limit for those man hours I'm going I'm going to I don't like to assume anything but I believe it's during the time of our memorial memorial time frame it took them 179.50 hours to do all of that so these tables are um the DPW Plus Lake View it's not a tradeoff of DPW versus Lake View correct okay again again again based on what you just said during Memorial Day is did they figure that is a week right you're still right correct so cuz it's 41 mowing hours is that 1 hour overtime because there's only 40 hours in the day and again we we can't seem to have that 40 hours in in a week I mean so um so I'm just trying to figure out the 1792 man hours cuz there's if there's 40 hours in a week and there 7 Days that's 168 hours right for you know um we we this whole topic we discussed before Mike before you came on we discussed this at um a while ago and we're going back into the the same system again yeah how long it takes right if you do the 179 divided by a 40h hour week you got five um man weeks right or five five people to do it in a week right so you need five people five more so here's my concern and and I think that's what you were trying to get get to is because we're going on a solid year and this is this is not getting any better I mean we have information from other places that it should take on an average at North Cemetery 24 to 30 hours to get North Cemetery done and it should take three days okay okay and then at South Cemetery it should take 16 to 20 hours two two and a half days so and if you one person yes and that might be but go ahead well I guess it aligns too with the hiring strategy for summer health you know um the hiring strategy will not meet the mowing requirements if if you hire two people at 19 hours a week right now if you go back to our meeting notes that we just approved um in the section the DPW director IR replies that it takes 40 hours in North Cemetery and 20 hours in South Cemetery so a week and a half to do both now when I look at the DPW fish Street mowing 2 hours again this is my observation as far as on the cemetery commission I have at our own property I mow the lawn myself with a push mower and I can do our lawn which is not quite an acre so it's a little bit underneath that I can do that in two hours so I don't think that that area at fish Street doesn't look that big to me it shouldn't take us 2 hours to do that right would you agree either one of you yeah I don't think it's an acre but no I don't think it's an acre here no no no I'm just talking about there you know oh yeah it's like it's like this side this room half half of the room right um and we're only talking a few Hedges I mean a few sorry we're only talking a few grave sites in there right so it's not like you have to stop because of the gra site somewhat um so I personally maybe it's travel time too you're going from South to here and then you know I'm not I'm not making a joke of it you know right they they are driving and moving and unloading equipment um so are shouldn't be it should be just the time that you're mowing that's what we're looking for right not the travel time to get there right but he's just saying you know is it that he's just bringing that right exactly because we don't we don't know what we don't know unfortunately um yeah somewhere you got to capture right Logistics right so with that being said I think I would like to see someone really delve into the numbers to find out exactly what we're dealing with because this is getting insane that we can't seem to get cemeteries done for these holidays and I can tell you that if um if the DPW believes that this was done properly and well for Memorial Day I can tell you that I've had several people not just one not just two come to the cemetery commission and say that they were very much upset with how the cemeteries are looking and how they're looking today um so with that being said um I don't know what else to say I don't know what else to do regarding it because it's just not getting done properly um and I don't I have a few suggestions uh that's why I wanted the town manager here to ask her what are we what are we going to do to fix this because we're still spinning our Wheels again and again and again again that's what I was just thinking about we've been going through this I've been on the commission for three years now I know last year or two we were at the library we went through the same topic we even had the um at that meeting we had the uh Selectmen a couple of Selectmen there we had Heather there DPW and the superintendent and he was very truthful the superintendent of what the problems were okay he said he gets so many phone calls he's only one person he can't use it so we came up with an idea of doing a pilot program of bringing a a company in that knows how to do the landscaping and we did a pilot program and we were able to get it done in time I thought it was a reason to be priced I you know um but then now there's excuses why we can't continue doing that and I think some people are getting concerned that we're getting into someone's job and all it's there so many excuses when we already we came up with this resolution I think now we're back into this again right you know how many hours it takes how many phone calls he gets from other places and we came up with a solution for that too you know have someone put on your phone that you're going to be calling them back between 2: and 3: you don't take phone calls except between 2 and 3 or have someone as a secretary receptionist take your calls for you there's so many different things that we can do to help out getting the job done but it's being delayed and this has been over a year now over a year of doing this so the the problem is no one wants to make a DEC we cannot make the decision cuzz we not in charge of the maintenance but the people that can make the decision are prolonging it and it's me they're public because I want to let you know that couple of months ago when I was at the cemetery for my wife the truck pulled up and there was two seniors that got out of it and they brought their lawnmower they picked up their lawnmower from the back of the truck and they went and mowed the grass was like 5 in high they mowed their loved ones grave right that should not be that should not be I I guess you know when they show up they should always do the critical areas those are where the plots people are visiting that have some attention and you know like in South Cemetery the first third or even 2/3 are very well long established uh Graves or or plots um I don't think a lot of people are visiting but I'd have to look by area uh but then you get down there to areas people are visiting so why can't that be the priority when you get to them the first area you mow are these areas and maybe maybe you break up each Cemetery into a parcel map and say you know parcel A and B will always be 3 in and then you go back and and maybe cut other areas every other mod well was described to us about a year or so ago yeah when we were at the library how he does it is no go aheading they do one section then they go down to the other end do another section then they come back to this side and do this that's the problem it's the problem because then it takes a longer you got to do this section then take your mower down there and do that section why don't we do methodically when you do your lawn when anyone does their lawn do they go I'll do this part now I'm going to go over and do this part then I'm going to back and do this part why don't you do it methodically and just go right across and do the whole thing that way you're on your lawnmower and you're mowing the whole thing you're not going here to there to there and back again and I think that that's the pro I mean that's what I see the problem as and again I want to speak to the to the town and the residents here is the cemetery commission we are doing our best to try to resolve this I can't apologize enough how it looks I was just there yesterday and you've got the same thing you've got sections done sections aren't done what it looks like we've got veterans in there we've got you know our military means so much not only to me but to these two gentlemen and other residents in the town um plus the loved ones that are buried there not just the veterans but also the ones that are buried it's I'm sorry it is a disgrace and I don't know what else to be honest Hest to you I don't know what else to do to try to get this resolved I can tell you that that Einstein's quote doing the same thing over and over again and expecting results to be different is a definition of insanity and that's where we're at we're doing the same thing over and over again and nothing changes so on that regard I'm just going to stop us for a minute because I saw somebody come in that one I know would like to do a public comment and we saved it because we didn't we didn't do it because nobody was here were you the one that was on yes I'm so sorry I couldn't come on up please Mr Rogers thank you Dave Dave Rogers 82 Highland Street um I uh frankly was not doing well this morning and I I decided to to try to come in by zoom and I'm sorry and that's okay and uh that didn't work but this is uh so important to me uh my my I don't drive anymore so my my wife said come on let's go and so she brought me up here so I apologize for being late I could hear you and you know anyway technology is great if it works um I can't tell you well yes I can because I'm going to uh how frustrated I am with this through no fault of yours this just does not make sense okay if if you do the math with the hours and you divide it by 40 that means that you you you do this for 4 weeks I mean give me a break and the fact that there's nobody here the the uh Town manager or the anybody from the DPW is I mean that's rude okay where is the the the superintendent of of the of the uh Cemetery I don't know he to in off aess to him today he is doing a burial this morning okay so that so that obviously takes presence course it does all right but you know it just I I don't understand why this is such an issue as I have said ad nauseum Karen and I and our kids uh have lived here for 50 years okay and when we first got here there was a guy by the name of Dave Porter who was in charge of the of the cemeteries and there was a guy by the name of Bob Gano that was in charge of all of the other uh uh mowing the Lawns and Fields and Parks and Recreation and it got done one person on each it got done you hit the nail right on the head in terms of you can't start over here and then go I mean it's the biggest mishmash you know it it just doesn't make common sense and I'm no rocket scientist but I've I've mowed you know as we all have uh a great deal of of uh uh grass in my 80 years and if if I ever did that at my house uh when I was a kid my father would have my neck and we we lived in a very big big place anyway that's the frustration and you know I I just I I can't understand why especially uh during uh the Memorial Day area time that that we can't make those cemeteries absolutely pristine it's it's rude it's disrespectful uh to do anything else and I went there three times and I and I saw the the various states of of of disregard I mean I I I was Furious you know some of you know me some of you don't but I I mean I I'm a get it done kind of guy and this is driving me crazy and I and I'm I'm not going to give up but I I'm going to tell you I'm going to join with you and we're going to get this thing done okay um and uh I I I just I just can't understand but I think I know all my considered opinion I'm going to lay it out here on TV I think they're messing with you the co cooperation is nonexistent nonexistent and they're messing with you well uh I'd like to get involved with the foray and I'm going to tell you they're not going to mess with me because I will I will get every veterans organization I know up there and and we we'll we'll get at the bottom of this this this just doesn't make sense and thank you for accommodating my schedule I'm sorry I I intention but I I I I uh I wasn't I have not that you care but I have uh uh vertigo and I'm I'm dizzy and anyway I was not having a good day and this heat just knocks the hell out so I I appreciate you're taking the uh taking me uh out of order and and fine people that are here I stand in line so I've I've I've giv you my first oh one other thing two other things the the headstones I I I drove through the and the headstones are broken on on a lot this is crazy you know I I just don't understand why we can't get that thing get get that done the other thing and it sounds like I'm really nitpicking uh I probably am but if you go by the the cemetery building there's all kinds of crap on the side it's it's not neat it's not put away I mean come on this this just doesn't have to be all right and it never was and and you know I will help you get this thing done because this is absolutely crazy okay so thank you again for allowing me to to come in late and I I tell you I was I was going to try and do it at home but technology and my wife is a tech I mean she's smart as heck dumb as a stump so no my apologies to you because I couldn't get it to work number one and number two is you're so welcome and we definitely feel your pain because it's our pain um it's been our pain for for many years um and it needs to get fixed I'm sick of again the cemetery commission it just needs to be fixed you know for the reckon I think you know this but for those that don't I'm and I I don't talk much about this but I'm a Vietnam veteran uh I I'm 100% disabled from agent orange uh I'm an insulin dependent diabetic I take five shots a day 13 pills in the morning 13 pills at night and uh I I've had triple bypass stance the whole nine yard so I've been down the road because of Agent Orange so this has a particular meaning to me okay and and the other vets the least we can do is show our respect and our thanks and appreciation by by making that the cemeteries with these folks Al lie uh the best we can do it and I think we can all say that we're right behind you that we all are very passionate for the same reason my husband is uh been in the Air Force again he's a veteran he's a Vietnam veteran um and again for the same reason um you know United States government and what it means to to a lot of people and that's what so that's what I've been me personally as chair but also us underneath the cemetery commission um is very upset regarding this it doesn't we're not trying to be um mean rude you know I've heard all things that I'm being biased or we're being biased one Cemetery versus the other that's not true all the cemeteries together need to look Prestige right I I I I couldn't agree more so I look forward to helping in any way I can thank you and I'm going to you know this is a tough time you know with the the H manager uh leaving in things are in a disarray but we can sort it out and uh I'm ready willing and able to help any way I can to get this thing resolved and one way or another I promise you we're going to get this thing resolved thank you and my apologies that Heather's not here she was supposed to be here for Mr Bernard because m Mr Bernard's on vacation and um and here we are yeah that's fine I I mean those things happen right you know but we'll work on it and thank you again for your time thank you thank you so much is there anything else we want to discuss after Mr Rogers um well my one uh reflection too is what two of our most important monuments are on to our veterans are on the wall behind us and those are uh the gentlemen who left Lunenburg for the Civil War and you know that's a testament our cemeteries are are have a lot of veterans uh from those War eras and uh so that's that's something I reflect on yes absolutely absolutely um all right so I think we've there's not much more we can do with not having anybody here at the DPW do you want to go into your piece of just so oh sorry just just so what you brought up just now that there's no one here so we can't really do that's one of the problems you know the town keeps asking for people to volunteer so we got volunteers to come in now we're on the cemetery commission and in the last 3 years I'm finding out Cemetery commission the people think that we're in charge of cemeteries but we're not really in charge we do the rules rules and regulations and that's it but there's a hierarchy and we because of the way it was put together they have us under the DPW and it's DPW that's in charge and if we can't come to some compromise That's why nothing gets done in 3 years exactly so there's no compromise in government here we got to figure a way of getting people in here that will compromise cuz no one's really in charge we can't have someone that thinks they're in charge of the whole thing we need to compromise we need to get the job done there is no compromising because there we've compromised as much as we're going to be able to compromise the next steps is the next level up and I think we're at that point um I I don't think we have a choice um that we can't get this resolved and it needs to get resolved um the DPW definitely cannot handle what we've asked them to do as far as mowing um it just doesn't seem to be happening so um the next level needs to be starting to look at and figure out how just so you know I you were here at the time Mike wasn't but when I sat down with Jack Rodriguez at the time and he said David we down three people I don't you know we've been down three people and I believe now they're still down people and they don't have enough people to into the cemeteries I don't think they're down the people on the DPW side I think we never got that second person in for the seasonal workers we have one right um but I can tell you the one thing that Jack did um which was and he called it all hands on deck if there was a holiday coming in he would try to the best of his ability to grab all the gentlemen's and uh at the DPW plus um the superintendent and they all work together regarding it microphone is up to your face I can't can't hear you can't hear anything how can you not sorry oh okay just better okay thanks well thanks for letting us know if I can inject of course our our um role it's like the school committee's role uh although we're a commission um they said policy so they can't direct the superintendent on day today but they can write policies and then the superintendent has to to uh interpret those and Implement them and ours is to set regulations right so we can we can write regulations and then you know expect um the DPW to interpret those and and meet them so you know although we can't tell them the number of people to hire when to mow and all uh and and the one thing we do is have an agreement in place this is um the uh the um you know they'll keep the lawn within 2 to 5 in so um we we can you know set policy that they then have to figure out on a day-to-day basis how to how to meet it now here lies the other problem and again it needs to be talked at at a higher level again there needs to be if this is to happen is the charter the charter is absolutely one reason one way one reads it another is it dayto day is it not dayto day um there is a lot of changes that need to happen but that doesn't happen overnight as we all know and if there's ever a charter review you're looking at years before that's going to happen and you're looking at years to get it through to change it um that's why with disinformation that's given to the public uh with the um putting a 501 or 501 what is it 503 501c3 thank you um together isn't um just going to happen overnight um there's a lot of information that has to happen and again it has nothing to do with the cemetery commission uh the cemetery commission is here to stay it's put in here by uh the state rules and regulations and unless that Charter changes that which I tend to doubt that that's going to happen um and again you're looking at a long time down the road looking into that that the disinformation to the residents um please understand if you have any questions regarding it please reach out to the cemetery commission Andor I will get the people in here to explain exactly what this means going forward we've said it a couple of times I'm going to get off of that because again it's a resident that keeps wanting to make that statement and quite frankly he doesn't have the information uh correct so we'll leave that alone um so does it make sense we can do one or two things we can go on your piece and you can do the mowing piece and then we'll come back to this because there's more information on here do you want me to finish this first and then go into yours oh you could you could uh finish that if you'd like okay so we're going to do it quickly so we have a problem right now that we're looking into which is called this Allen headstone trust it was brought to my attention about probably a month ago in a meeting uh with Heather and Mr Bernard um and it's regarding a headstone that should be uh washed every 3 years um and the sad part is the last payment was made in 2016 um and where are we today nobody can find the document I've looked into rain maker I had a conversation with rain maker Sims there is no documentation that is put into that software showing that there was any kind of trust um I can tell you that that the finance director cannot find it I can tell you that the I know that um information has been gone out to um the individuals in the town that would handle the trust which is a treasuries department and nobody can find this um so this is something that's ongoing which is very concerning because checks and balances are not being followed here where is this trust and why is it if you know that it was last cleaning was 2016 um if that's true then we're and every 3 years here we are in 2024 um so I think again I keep hearing that it appears that Hathaway um memorials were the one that was doing the cleaning and I know that lemonster Monument bought them I would like to know why we haven't already reached out to Hathaway what's the answer do they have it do they have a copy of the trust um because we need that information um and that should have been sitting on the cemetery side to know what this was it should never have been on the DPW side I don't know why it was um but we are looking into it and we will resolve that is everybody understand that what we well my concern is if if we know that there was a trust in the first place and the town can't find it I would think there would have to be a copy with the superintendent I mean he's he has copies of when people are buried and all that so you would think that the town would have one copy and another copy would stay with the superintendent because it really shouldn't be with the superintendent at all it should be with a cemetery commission but that's another whatever whatever I'm just saying that he has a lot of the documents now corre that we don't have correct so you would think it would be stapled with the correct with the people that passed away but here the here's my point to my issue is why isn't in the software why hasn't a copy of that been scanned into the software so it's my understanding from Mr Bernard that he's not going to have the superintendent do anything right now because we're grass cutting and that's his main focus um so we're on our own to try to find it and I will talk I will be talking with the um Director of Finance after this meeting to to discuss this to see the next steps what he he thinks the next step should be where it is going to fall on him as far as to find out this information especially if there was an audit you know who correct who' be responsible correct absolutely well it it says they made payment to half theway Memorial cleaning which is a private entity that was now Tak to Lemon Monument so why are we involved in um this type of particulars of cleaning just certain people's monuments all we're trying to do is helped the situation is I was asked where the paperwork was when I knew nothing of it I guess what my point was and partly you are correct Mike is does it fall underneath the cemetery commission I see part of it to know that the trust is there that we make sure that something is done correctly meaning with the town or if it sits with myene or whoever um but you are correct the actual um making this happen as far as cleaning it and so on and so forth yeah I just it's it seems funny if if we're going to say we'll take on all of these pet um funds for just indiv certain individuals and not have it um be I just don't know how we manage and and they're making payments to a private company um and and so how do we how does that M how did that how did this payment to Hathaway end up in Lunen BG's um Cemetery account because of the because of the fact that it's at North Cemetery and this is where they wanted it meaning that however we don't know actually let me back that we don't know if we have ever received the funds oh no they know they can see it meaning Ezekiel can see it see the funds can see the funds we just can't see the paperwork I'm only as Cemetery commissioner or the commission is just trying to help in the process to find out what happened here and why wasn't why didn't the cemetery know about this um because I went back to Bill Tyler and asked him personally did you know of this situation and he said no so I don't know why we didn't where it is again you're talking about a gravestone so on and so forth in theory you're right we shouldn't be involved in in some of this but I think for us to have that hierarchy when I have these sheets that are given to you right now which are going to give you what our money is uh the sale of lot so on and so forth there should be a line item and I don't think there's a lot of trust Michael so my thought was you put something on there that says okay we have this one trust just wanted to let you know this is where it's at would you and you guys tell me what your thoughts are I'm just bringing this to your attention it just brings up another topic that I'm thinking of and it doesn't pertain to this but if we're having problems finding this how do we know that the stuff that goes into the um rain maker rain maker mhm is accurate because they wait till the winter time to put it in correct instead of doing it right then and there so if we go into rain maker now today for something that was buried you know in a 3 four months ago you won't see it I won't see it correct so and that's another whole problem that brings another subject up which we'll go down through that because I think it's in there a little bit um I can tell you again that if the document is somewhere it would be in the boxes that are probably the old boxes are underneath the desk now in all fairness I looked at at the grave the Allen grave site as far as the different ones that are buried there and I can tell you that um there was one done in 1968 there was done one done in 1919 that was done in 1923 so again some of these are very old so it's not going to be the superintendent that would have that per se except for the document that may have been passed down to him whenever this trust see we can't even tell you when the trust was well I guess you can find out when the trust was actually put into place but there's no there's no paperwork for you to read so that's that's the problem okay and that's all I'm bringing up like I said for the semetary commission to be well reversed in it to understand what's happening behind the scenes but so I I just have a question cuz you have down here the account number I have a trust for my personal okay and when I have to present it to the bank they want a copy of it okay if we have an account number and we're paying halfway it has to go the bank if you set it up with the bank but we don't know again that's what I'm saying right so we have to find out but we but again this isn't a Wei thing this is I have to right go back I'm just bringing it say whoever's taking care of this cor should find out what bank it's through and find out cuz they need a copy of a trust when you go through a bank but we don't know how that was set up so that's what we don't know and that's why this is getting out of and Mike you are correct oh right right right cuz this is money in our account right the towns but the trust I remember um while working on a uh Eagle project at North Cemetery Todd Homan mentioning that there was a trust and it was hundreds of years old it had been established for cleaning so maybe this is it then this is probably this has been sitting uh in in a trust account and um like you say every every X number of years it's it's cleaned right so this this has been established for quite some time so Ezekiel is just putting this on now because he and I had talked about it that I think it's a good thing that we have it cuz now we know there's only $396 47 left in the trust eventually the family if there's still someone alive does this trust go n and void or does someone in the family if there's someone still alive put more money in to keep that cleaning of that stone so this is what we haven't had so Ezekiel again um and probably Karen behind the scenes found this information of just trying to bring us bring us up to speed on it and what's what's transpired or what's happened well it's got interest here too is the town is the town giving interest on funds on it when they set up the town the town is putting conc certain that I I don't know interest bearing account I I don't know the answer to that so good morning good morning do you want to come up here or do you want to set it's totally up to you what on St I'm sorry okay we appreciate you um coming in so Heather we'll go back to what we just talked about um but I want to go uh over a couple of other things to get through this because I know you've got time and we've got a keep going here so the one thing I want to go to so have we finished about the trust really and Heather you're looking in I know that the finance is looking into that trust is that correct I'm Sor the I'm sorry the Allen trust headstones trust Finance um meaning Accounting Office yes correct okay cuz Ezekiel and I have been talking about that and we just put this in so we still don't have any paperwork on it I haven't seen any okay what I'm being told at the DPW is that Todd is too busy with grass cutting and that it may be in some of those boxes that need to go through um not to say that it is I can tell you that I went into rain maker yesterday and I went through the whole area and there is absolutely no paperwork that's been put in there okay um so and we'll talk about that piece um so I just wanted to make sure that you were part of that too okay so moving on um we're okay with that now all right so there is a headstone that uh this party would like to do um that is a 4x1 headstone the family ow six plots I thought it was for uh my apologies if I'm not sure if if Bill is right or I'm right CU I thought I looked in it yesterday and there was four but it doesn't matter anyway from four to six plots that are there and this gentleman would like to Center having a stone kind of like what we just did month ago with someone else in there and they'd like to just Center it over the either four to six plots does anybody have any problem with that well I guess I guess um is it Tau or Bill saying that it's um let's see what's he say they agree that it's okay but they don't agree with the fact out of character with other existing head headstones so I recommend not allowing it but they just allowed it meaning they brought it to our attention of another headstone that's in South cemetery and we did the same exact thing and that was fine to Mr Bernard yes he's saying it's okay because there's no reason that they can as far as going around it with the grass or cutting and so on and so forth but it's just the fact the presidents of it um my thought is this I trust the public and I trust the residents in this town that if by chance there was a case that we couldn't do it because there was a unknown reason from the DPW that it just could not be done and we as a board decided to say okay if you really can't do it and here's the reason I would hope that the public would then agree to that and say okay so and so has it over here but I can't because I don't have the room for it then it's just going to have to be that an answer is no for this committee if that's what we decide does anybody have as far as I think they they paid for the plots instead of having each plot a headstone they just want one headstone right for all the plots which should be better yeah than having the small individual headstones because that's going to take more time to go in and cut the grass this way is a cleaner way it's a cleaner way yeah I'm just he's he's and and I look at the cemeteries um and on South most of the new burials are in back yeah and that's where this one is and we're saying if it's not interspersed with the existing headstones um we could say and call it a new burial area you will accept um deviations from the the rules I just don't I still you know you can get a lot of odds and ends to uh and there's no there's no picture here of what this is going to be is it still going to be rectangular gray and just bigger um but for only1 what is one what's 4 by one so 4 by one is four feet and then no one I'm I'm assuming it's 4 feet high by one foot thick but how how wide and 4 feet what's a what's a what's a standard headstone height they're not 4 feet high they're what it be probably two and a reason to ask for a picture of what they're looking to put in well again I've been over there and again all he's asking is is just a 4 foot so the 4 foot headstone um will fit and cause no problems with manance so it's going to be four feet like kind of like what we had for a bench and it's just going to be 4 feet long um the problem is is it's stated again that um if the cemetery commission decides that that's okay then we vote on it and then we approve it now we just approved just so you if you remember we just approved one that the gentleman had his son unfortunately pass away suddenly and we're he has either four or six on his side what we're doing is we're moving it to one side or the other and he is adding one more um headstone in there but it's only a smaller one to accommodate so he's going to have two in there versus this one that's going to have one I don't see I guess I'm the type that I think the public if you say you can do this and then you can't do that I don't I think to keep it open I don't see the harm in it that's just my personal opinion you guys have to vote on this too so it's also your vote yeah I I just see people doing a you know different designs and all and but we have that today Mike that's the thing do yeah so um I don't see the harm in it as long as it's properly done and we get the DPW to look at it to make sure and then what did the people around them expect you come to visit your loved one and you've got your stone and then all of a sudden there's a bigger monument and I I don't know just from visiting my parents complaining about that cuz my wife's headstone is bigger than the ones next to it yeah yeah and no one's in fact they come to me and they say that's beautiful yeah you done I guess that's the way I look at it m but again I don't want to inter that I want to make sure that we all vote and you know understand what we're doing here I just think that I've never had anybody complain I've never had anyone the only complaint I ever got was again the DPW complaining because we had a gift given on another uh a bench that was 4T there are fo foot benches in the cemetery there's three and four depending on the location and if the location allows a forfoot that's what I believe the parties should have if they can't do it because it can't fit in there then they have to accept that we can only do three and according to the dpw's comments here um however it's not allowed by the cemetery commission rules and regulations we can you know allow exceptions periodically correct out character for the existing headstone Sor but I would think that he would say gez you know this is a good idea because now we can get the M around it correct we don't have four headstones that we have to weed whack we only got one that we have to we whack it's it's two things one one is convenience and melon but the other is the Aesthetics and other people who have already uh put in plots and headstones and are visiting what do you want to see just one gra the area look like right but I just think it looks cleaner like you said to have one headstone with with the three it's either three or it's excuse me it's either four or six plots there now now if we didn't approve it would he just get two headstones well well there's there there's how many plots six plots you could get six headstones you would get six right which would make it worse for the for the M well no if you had cuz you two plots so it would be three headstones three headstones three headstones right so three versus one yeah and he's just making a little bit longer and he's just you know again it's Centered for all of them being there right right and if we go back to the headstone that we just talked about the trust that's that TR that headstone is huge not huge huge but it's it's bigger than most right we have several in in the North and the South cemeteries that's all well I guess then we should revisit the regulations too and change them I mean cuz if if this is allowable it should always be allowable well no I don't this is my two cents on that I think we need to keep it the way it is be only because if there is a situation that the DPW really feels like I said I'm trying to be I'm trying to meet halfway with them that if there was a situation that if they came back and said Nancy it's not going to work and here's the reasons why and we talked about it and we both we all agreed and said you know what okay we got to go back to the person and say we can't accommodate it because of X Y and Z I'd like to keep that open that way that open communication it's an exception I it's an exception there there's always exceptions to everything right I mean and we can talk about that in the future about that if you have any suggestions when you look at the at rules and regulations but those were just changed less than a year ago right right that's my only point on that yeah my only concern is people are uh you know have bought their plots they're putting headstones in and then they come back and see this big headstone and you know it's breaking up the Aesthetics of the area but Mike if you I I'm just saying I'm just saying Vis my parents I want you I want you in areas that are are growing and you just see some headstones that you're like oh but I mean look allowed to put that in but look at the ones that are already there that are already there and I'm going to you know I'm not going to say the person's name but there's one in there that has I think again either four or six and they have one that's super Long Tall but he's not the only one there's other ones that's all I'm saying is that that again I don't want to change anyone's vote that's not what I'm here for I just want you to vote the way you want to vote I mean we got headstones in there that are tall that's tall as the almost the flag right and that's not the regulations right and that was approved prior to us you know so and they're some of them are back years so oh yeah the historical ones are historical right you know that that's what makes the cemeteries what they are uh but now we just see a whole bunch of different shapes and benches and this and that and it's so maybe we have a regulation for the new area versus the historical part talk about that historical part and new part do we put up a little bit of a you know you want to walk into this area you can see new head about talk about that yeah yeah no I want everyone to you know have their their voice here so Heather is there anything you want to um just to Mike's Point um the I think the Aesthetics and the overall planning for the cemetery that's a cemetery commission function how you want your cemeteries to look um so I think that's a good point the exceptions what would be um a something that wouldn't be allowed I guess cuz I think having some sort of criteria of what's not allowable um creates less um for the public that their request is not is more objective than subjective and and I think we' we talked about this prior I mean in other meetings that we've talked about like for instance and um uh someone that comes in and wants to put a picture of a cat because that was the person's you know a monument of a cat or or and I'm I'm just going way out there but I mean something that's just unappropriate or someone that you know they have a picture of the person meaning they literally have um a statue of the person that passed away or you know again that's just again you won't see that in a cemetery um but I have heard I have seen some crazy things in some of the cemeteries that they have allowed um so I just using that as an example but again I just I guess I believe in in the town and I believe in the residents in the town that they would never come to us and do something unappropriate or ask us to do something that was not appropriate now then will this be the only headstone yes and that'll he'll be limit the person will be limited to that this is the stone this is a stone and then they would have you know on the back of all the names there they would still have a footstone or a foot marker I should say they can still have that but they would only have the one stone okay and then you would have all the names and it's going to be a larger Stone but we don't know the stone material the finish the he's going you know what he does is we have gone with lemonster Monument if people not that they have to go to them but they're our vendor of choice and so um that's why they came that's why they came to us meaning they were told to come back to the cemetery commission to get permission to have this made and so on and so forth now if it's just a gray granite or whatever color polished face and engraved and bigger what if it's going to be black marble with gold inlay and so I I I don't I mean without having a picture and be able to go to the area I've gone to the area I don't think it well when any of us pass away we don't we don't ask for the people to give us a picture of what it's going to look like it could be black with gold lettering it could be red with white lering I mean like ours um we don't really ask the commission doesn't ask for right a picture of what it's all we do say large could diminish other people's stones in the area you go in and put your own regulation Stone of gray or pink or and then somebody puts big well what's wrong with with uh a black and gold stands out compared to someone next to it that's just a a gray one gray one yeah I I don't I mean that's that's how they look at the person that passed away their loved ones yeah as they stand out and I I don't see anything wrong with that if you want your your loved one to stand out over someone else's I mean okay you're entitled to I that's just my op okay I think though too though we should revisit these and start to put a proposed um you know here's ex here's when we will grant exceptions if you have X number of plots you know this is The Headstone size per plot but if you have three and you want to do one stone you can put a bigger um Stone you going look into that as long as it's proportional yep I can tell you that there is another Stone that's coming in that we voted on again and this was again before you came on Mike it was probably several months ago that there was a picture and it was a bench but it was a it looked like it was a log bench and it hasn't been created yet or they I know they ordered it but it hasn't come in yet so that gentleman wanted to make sure and we did not feel again it was our pre or previe to basically tell him okay you can't have a log bench there that was that meant something to him and it will be unique it will be well done because it's lemonster Monument that's doing it but you won't see another one probably in the cemetery like that he just wanted to know of the size and that's what we went through that's why I'm saying is me personally I don't have a problem with again as long as it's tasteful as long as lemoner monument and I know lemonster Monument well enough that they're never going to do something they're always going to let either uh the superintendent know or us know again that here's what they're making and this is what it is um if you the only reason I'm saying that we could we can put this to July to do a vote if you feel better and I can find out what the picture looks like if you feel better the only thing that worries me is I don't remember if this gentleman has is is a burial coming up soon that they need to get it ordered that's my only Point okay that's my uh now I don't know how how would you like to proceed I've told them that I put it on the agenda this time because I thought they needed to know um I'm just trying to see how I can get a picture of it without I can't you have to bring it back into another meeting unless we do another special meeting for just that if you feel more comfortable Mike I think um as we approve these we should we should take our regulations and Redline them as we will accept these changes um because we're accepting them and so somehow we got to make sure that uh you know like the superintendent States requests will come in for bigger and bigger headstones and then as you're saying people want to do uh otter shapes than the traditional stones and you come there and you put your plot in and your loved ones are there and then you see things popping up but you are but and it's like well who who allowed this you know I mean I from personal experience you know you go you go to to visit and the person that next has got a pictured engraving and they got bonsai plants growing and it's like who you know again I think the most and then various shapes to Stones we already have that today at North Cemetery well I know I see that and it's like here's a traditional cemetery and then right at the top all these variants are are coming in so what if we just I mean maybe it's not of my business you know we on this but we tell them like Mike says this is the maximum you can do for a size I mean if we know what the grave is we know there's six of them and he wants to center it then we know the maximum size that it has to be he requested a 4x1 headstone the but four four feet by one foot I'm assuming one foot is the thickness right the thickness so so 4T High by or 4T wide by a traditional you know headstones I don't think we ever said how high because some of these are really high okay so he's just going in width with with and depth and then we don't regulate height so people could do a two and half foot by 6 feet yeah no I mean we would stop again there are there are a few headstones that over there and I think it's the cross that's over there in the North Cemetery that that was done before you this was what Bill uh Tyler was on that it was approved is it it's probably one of the tallest crosses that we have in there can it be any more than that no that was an exception again that the party and the reasons why they wanted it and then then it was granted okay um do you feel like you can vote today or yeah I can vote today are you sure cuz I don't want to yeah all right yeah make I make a motion that we allow the um person to have a headstone 4 by one in South cemetery and it will either be over four plots or six plots because that may be the only typo I don't know when I say typo I have it I should have looked yesterday in Rain Maker but anyway it's either going to be across four plots or six okay I'll second and all in favor I I motion passed all right Mike I know I've got to get you out of here so let's um do you want to go to to your sure sure um I mentioned this before I I have joined a number of Facebook Cemetery sites and on one of them they mentioned the use of using the robot mowers and um one of the statements was um they can work well in established uh historical areas where people aren't visiting and adding uh any type of new plantings or momentos you know that um so uh that got me uh interested in looking into them uh I know there's a gentleman in town down by the whum area and he's doing his entire large slope front lawn with one uh and if you go by while while it's out there it's just it's just kind of creeping along so it's it's like well okay that looks good for probably about a half acre but are there other models and and sizes that would do larger and and basically I I looked into it uh and you know they're they're kind of in the point8 to 1 1.25 acre range then 2.5 acre range and and 6 acre range and I think that a lot of that is more uh on the ability of the electronics and GPS and all that to to provide control over the area as it is on the size of the mower to mow that area but those there there's like husana that makes them there's mosan Luba um there's also yarbo where they have uh this like looks like a something designed as a lunar rover but small and it's actually a core module and then it has a mower and leaf blower and snow blower attachment but it's still a fairly compact unit so um I I did have pictures I can send this to you on on what they look like and the prices range in about $2500 all the way up to uh 5K Plus for the for the yarbo with attachments depends on how many attachments you buy and then the the uh mowing capacity um so the smaller ones the one acre um look like pretty much um you know they they have a charge and then moow times from um you know charge of an hour mow time of two hours and then recharge or charge for um probably uh 2 and 1/2 hours mow for 3 hours um and and and so you just look at okay here's the cycle first you need to charge then you go out and mo now you have to come back and recharge and it's 3 hours you said yeah 3 hours and and say uh the the one uh that's 1.25 acre rate it would do 16,200 ft per charge and then it would have to come back so what's an acre 43 uh th000 Square ft so it it probably need three runs uh to go out and do that you know so that's going to be a couple days you know it's going to charge recharge charge recharge but it's unintended and it's just doing its thing so I'm trying to picture this how would you how would it work in a sem Cemetery where you you have some empty land in the beginning of North Cemetery but then you have all the plots so yeah how would you program something like this to go around to all or does it hit something then turn and hit something and then turn no no no no they're they're they actually have um of course they're running by GPS in a while and they say they're accurate with like an inch and they have cameras and uh collision avoidance and bumper bar so 99 or all of the time you would expect it it it's seeing the stones and mowing next to it and if you look at of course how it's laid out the the uh cemetery and the stones are almost terrorist you know if you if you look between sets of stones it's it's like a Terrace and then you would move up a little and go down the next so it's not it's not like you're driving and here's a stone here's a stone here's a stone you're just you know going down a an aisle aisle so knows the difference between grass and mulch cuz if the mulch and you know right now how they have to weed whack around them oh so that yeah and this this is the point you're you're you probably the best Advantage would be to use it in the established areas where PE people aren't planting mulching you're just Mowing and there's grass you know Stone so you you my my thought is it's it's to um keep your manpower to where you have to pay attention to all the intricacies uh you know in the newly established areas and then use a robot to do the existing they have the headstones okay so there's ledge and we don't use headstones okay I mean these things can go over anything you know they're pretty the four-wheel drive all-wheel drive and they have the cameras so that's also a security thing they say you can go and and watch what your mower is doing and saying so I would like to because I know we're running out of time and I've got to get through some things but I think your your presentation again Heather this was more of a robotic type thing for the future um something to talk about I think like we said the green uh that has in the town to see if there's something because here's the light problem is there's no electricity at North uh Cemetery or South Cemetery so it will have a problem with not having electricity so I think there's some key things that we still need to look into maybe you could call that gentleman that does the green yeah see the green and see if there's anything that maybe we could get some that may be something that maybe we could get some money from you know as far as Grant or something to do with that um and keep it only in the areas that we think do you mind keeping that project on and you yeah yeah sure I'll I'll do that um cu the other you know the other thought too is if you do a trial and and it doesn't work that well for the cemetery maybe out in front of the Ritter the uh TC maybe the town would and you just free up those areas and your staff can go to the areas that you need people okay so maybe it's something else you can you can look at areas in town that would benefit from this and now you can focus your staff on areas that you know okay yes okay so the next piece I have on here that um Mr Bernard had sent was the rain maker the features next steps so on and so forth um I can tell you again that and this has always been my fear is that since I got on the Cemetary commission is the paperwork is not complet in uh rain maker um there is areas that there's just no documentation in it meaning they haven't been scanned in for whatever reason that they didn't get scanned in um I understand that he likes to save everything until the winter I don't agree with that uh only because and here's Here's my thought and you both can can chime in is the fact that if somebody passes away we'll say a month or so ago um you won't see that person in if if somebody comes another family member or someone comes to go be at that lot they won't know that it's there because well they'll know that it's there because they've had the funeral but what I mean by that someone that doesn't know the area that goes in you won't see that anywhere in the documentation and it won't even be um entered into the Sims program or rain maker um I think that's too many months if you do it like for right now I know that uh last year we had 10 burials full burials and we had uh 22 cremations if you only took one set of paperwork and put it in per week let's say that's all the time you have is just one hour um it should not take you that long to get it all in so is there any reason that you can think of Heather why he can't do that during the year uh during the time of the the months going forward than to waiting until the winter time to put this paperwork in I know he's out mowing most of the other you know during the spring and summer and fall doing and doing the burials then I I know I don't know that those documents aren't scanned in what Bill indicates here is that there's lot showing online as available but some are unders Sizer and roadways and that updating would be completed in the winter so I don't know that okay well I think that's something and again we can can go on and talk about that more but or even maybe put it in he's not mowing during the rainy weather I mean we've had a lot of rain so he's not mowing then and that's when he usually does his office work right right so um bad weather yeah he can put it in it right so that's what I'm saying is it doesn't have to be the winter time it can be I don't know if that's if it's only done in the winter I think maybe a bulk of it because there is more time available in the winter but I don't know that recent burials when he has downtime in the office um that he doesn't have to be out at the cemeteries so I about that the only other thing that I'm wondering is if he does it all in the winter I would think the super the the DPW director he he's now working in the cemetery so the DPW director is using him someplace else in the winter time he's not home he plows so how do he doesn't plow all the time meaning it doesn't snow all the time or right but the director uses him someplace else cuz he's not in the cemeteries so how does he find time how does the director give him time to do stuff for rain maker in the winter time when he should be helping the other guys and he doesn't have time to do it when he's working for the cemetery when it's required to go out for snow and ice right that's when he would go out but you know that's not every day in the winter that it's going to be well then again I guess I then the all the boxes that are underneath or by um the superintendent's desk area of old old stuff that needs to be put into rain maker should have been put in we put that we put that software in 2010 and we upgraded it in 2019 so documentation like for instance just an example of this um Allen um headstone trust is not in there so if they knew about it and nobody else has a copy of it the one place that it should be entered is in there and it's not there now is it because it's so old that again those boxes haven't been gone through I'm guessing that that may be the reason but all I'm saying is if we've had that since 2010 and however when Todd or excuse me the superintendent started is when um things that should have been put in there have not been scanned in um I talked to rain maker about it they did the initial starting of scanning they did that in around that 2010 time frame and they've never done anything since so anything that's not in there is not in in there because it hasn't been updated and put in that's been my concern and that's what has always been my concern that it is not complete in rain maker I can tell you that today because I've looked at it at a high level I haven't looked at every single piece but I just think if we have a software my thought is why are we not utilizing it for the the best of the best um and that that's all I'm saying with that like a lot of things comes down to time of when availability but it's in his job title Heather it's in his job title that he that he has to do this so that's all I'm saying but if there's an exorbitant amount of uh work to be done you can say it's in his job title but only as time allows like a person only has so many hours but it doesn't say that in his job title only time allow all I'm saying is that's all I'm saying is and we can move on but all I'm saying is it doesn't say that it says in his job title that he is to do that work and if it's if I don't know why I would have a guy who's got his skill set sitting doing data entry if you can take the forms and give it to somebody and say go populate this sounds like a yeah project that um and maybe that's what should happen that's all I'm saying the DPW admin or something here I know she would in basket um I know no but you know it's a paperwork and but that's let somebody who's if raym maker had initially done scanning for the town maybe that's a project that they can be hired to um complete all the historical okay and they've already given me a price again this is this is again not they haven't looked at the project but if you do a true migration you're looking at probably $50,000 cuz I just talked with them on Monday to $100,000 is that where the town wants to spend its money to do that I'm not saying yay or nay all I'm saying is and this is a rough figure again it is not when I talked to rain maker about this um we had discussed you know what something like that might look like and again we can't tell them how much paperwork yet cuz we really don't know so does it make sense that you bring them out one time and say okay if you guys came out here can we pay you x amount of dollars to come look at this and then give us a rough idea how much this is going to cost us they should be able to provide you know a quote based on the number of boxes and of materials Then I then then can we get that from Mr Bernard if I can get exactly what that is then maybe I will call I'll talk to with that would be greator okay now the most important thing that I think we're we're we're really not legally doing a good job with basically and and I'll be the first to admit on the cemetery side is this illumination of not the lack of Illumination for these flags um this has been going on for years and I am embarrassed to say um that it's still not done I did go out and I purchased two of them just to try um Mr Bernard looked at it and the DPW director and said that I didn't pick the right ones which okay I understand so he's looking into something for us to see what the cost but I can tell you that to put electricity over at um that area I thought we had we may not have it listed here when um the DPW director went to the DPW Capital planning piece of it it may be in here somewhere that states it and I want to say and I could be wrong so you know what I'm not even going to say the number because I'm not 100% sure um what that what that would entail but I can tell you when this building was built the first thing we asked of at that point in time do you need electricity no no no we don't need any electricity there doesn't need to be anything that's the time you do something again what was a plan why was it done this way why didn't you put electricity in if now you're looking at like oh we do need electricity so that's my concern is we're spending yet again if this is true and they can't do it any other way we're going to be spending x amount of dollars to go to put to put a poll up to do whatever they're going to do they had talked about putting it underground that's going to be even more pricey because you're going to have to dig underneath you're going to have to go across the highway you're going to have to then rep patch that it's not a simple task so it'll be interesting to see with what the DPW director comes back with um Heather can you be part of that too just to make sure that gets done which part that getting the uh electricity to find out what that quote is going to be for illumination of the flags are you asking just to follow up with Bill on get the quote yep I can certainly do that right I got one on the paperwork we got from the director DPW director June 2024 report from the DPW director the second bullet down and I'm trying to figure out what he means by this the American flags on the flag poles have raised and lowered as required now is that just if someone passed away that was important or does does the superintendent go there every day and raise and low I I know he doesn't because he leaves at 3:00 or 4:00 and it's not Sunset until later corre so I I I pretty much know the answer but why why is it written this way that it's raised and lowered as required right because we've never right exactly I it's like okay let's tell them let's tell them we do it it's probably um when the state um State mandates the state mandates okay that's what I would assume without knowing more information so again being you know having um in the military being respectful to the flag we are there's three areas that need to be Lumin ated over at the different cemeteries so three in North Cemetery I think just one in South cemetery and then there's none at fish street so that's how many illumination we should have because there's a couple of flags that are out there on the building which is the uh Cemetery building you've got the building on the Niche Wall that's got a flag on it and then you've got the ones in the middle so we've got to figure out the best way a handle list to get these flags under the guidance and and rules and regulations of what's respect to our our flags which I think are very important to obviously a lot of a lot of uh people and it needs to be corrected and I can tell you that I'm getting more and more people seeing this and want it corrected and as they should um so again there should be um a followup from the DPW director and he did say I'm sorry Heather he did say um the DPW director that he'll follow up with them so the mwd electric um is who he's going to check and find out how much this is going to cost okay running AC to the flag pole I think I think at this point we need to have U electric on site well this may be pricey to the town that's all I'm saying too bad no I know I'm just saying get a price I know all right so let's get a price who's mwd is that a private contractor or is that contractor it's a contractor yeah private contract let's let's I I think we should ignore the price did we you know it's not 1870 anymore well the only thing I there shouldn't be electricity at both cemeteries is I was looking at to get solar panels and that's what I bought these lights for they were $200 lights that I got for you know there was a huge saving so I thought if this could work now maybe we can you again I I don't even know if we can use it for that but maybe we could set it up somewhere so it could hit the flag that's at one of the buildings or whatever um but and then we only need the one flag in the middle for both South and North Cemetery so both would have to have electricity put in okay yeah all right so that's going to be a followup because we don't have the answers to that the other pieces um there has been discussion as you heard today by Mr Rogers too um he's not the only one that's brought this to the cemetery um attention um and I think Mr Bernard was wrong with the price on the oldest uh section of gravestones washing and repair he tells me that it's 22,000 that's not the price I have that went to the capital planning uh the repair of the headstones from 1700 to 1800s with 38,500 I've got to find out if maybe something's changed that I'm unaware of um regarding that so we need to figure out if that but that is something that I think some of the uh people would like to see in this town now do we have all that money in the budget uh again if we look at what we have today and how we would do it but again now that we've only got the $10,000 that's coming in which won't hit until July anyway for the sale of lots um or the capital planning excuse me the capital planning that we've had put in we don't have enough uh we will for 2025 or FY 2025 we'll have about 17,5 36 um we in the fall we have to do at fish street we have money we have a maintenance that's coming up as far as um a uh license for rain maker that's coming up that I know we need to pay for uh I know we talked about get trying to look at the skirt so there's a few things I'd like to again if the cemetery commission agrees on um we cannot get another bit of money correct Heather until November is that when the town comes back to vote again if we wanted to get another article that's the next town meeting special town meeting in the fall and that's usually to balance the budget so let me ask you a question is there any time that if we decide that we wanted to do some more projects that we could come we know we have the money here is that easily to pull out or is that not does it have to come to a town meeting to vote on that for an article you're talking about Sal of cemetery lots M yes that would be a town meeting vote okay so that would be the November time where we couldn't pull from that okay okay so we need to discuss a few more on that to see what that actual price is and see if we can do it or not um the other piece is we go back to the DPW has no funding on projects for the $50,000 for to grow the grass better to put in some where we have the grub issues um again we don't have all that money either so it's again there's going to have to be either the capital plan we have to go beyond to go to them again which everything is put under here and I want to make sure that again that the money that was put into the capital plan is all of dpws plus the cemetery it's not just the cemetery it's not just the DPW we put everything in together it just shows what it is um and this does not mean that it's going to happen all in one year um so I think there's some misinformation that's been given to the town's uh residents that the cemetery commission is not trying to spend your money uh what we're trying to do is we're trying to figure out projects that that we can handle that we do have the money to try to help out in any way we can um and I definitely as I've said to the finance I have not said to the finance committee but if they have any questions at all please feel free to call us to you know go over this with us would' be more than happy to do that um so we can do one or two things we can go back and kind of fill how if you if you got a few more minutes or no yeah can I just um sure like if I if I read this the grub control and all um put down seed cover it with top dressing um we've got the uh brush area the old dump and there's probably hundreds of yards of compost if not all the down to LOM are we are we looking at that to to me you know I'm thinking back when I was a where was this this is off a Young's Road oh okay the dump area I mean if you've been down there during brush you're first driving by hundreds of yards of compost so why would we pay for compost I didn't know that that so that's a good point Heather is that something we could um I would have to look into that I know um I have talked to the director about um disposing of that right on post and putting it out to bid because there's a value to oh okay yeah oh well we would we would we would get money for some company that wants to come in and right buy that from us um but certainly it's our material why wouldn't we keep you know 50 or 100 yards for Lunenburg projects instead of having these landscaping companies bill us for loan yeah that's a good question I can I can ask if that's if it's in a form that you know is did did they did we no you had mentioned at um select board meeting you had hired two summer workers yes did they both no so we um both were hired um and ratified pointed one was supposed to one did start the other one was supposed to start and never ended up and he backed out oh okay okay is there any that any more that have it was reposted um the director was supposed to have an interview this week that person um backed out of the interview so that um I don't we're still soliciting but and and why is it a 19h hour a week position um benefits is kicks in over a certain number of hours per year yeah I just don't uh know who would work 19 hours a week and uh you know unless they could had another job um well then that's what farming out are there college student I mean these were always college student jobs you know you come back for the summer and you got out earlier in college than high school and you picked up one of these jobs to work through the summer and it was 40 hours a week right I think we got lucky for the last yeah last year and the year before we had two two women that really did a great job and we were lucky to have them and they had another job so that's why the 19 hours worked okay so that's that piece getting back to the compost piece you just reminded me you know we have where uh the cemetery superintendent is moving things around burials is moving kind of like that same kind of situation that we already have at North Cemetery right now that are in the areas that I'm concerned about are could be conservation issues if we move that that could be enough comp post underneath that that we don't have to go anywhere else it's right there at North Cemetery now for South Cemetery it should be the same thing because in the back there yeah yeah and and and if you're going to Shell out 50,000 why not hire an extra cemetery worker and my thought would be when when they're done mowing they just take the truck over to Young's Road and shovel in a yard of and come back and shovel out a r Treat a spot and they go back and forth you know that's their summer job here's what I did on my summer right I mowed lawns and I you know that's what we all did so I I don't I I I think I think um some of these numbers it's it's great yeah if we want to hire a professional company and and pay them all our money but why aren't we using what we have and no you you bring to the point and that's that's good um and know and and please understand that was just one person you know maybe someone else is isn't you know again that I had Tanner come in to give me his expertise on it so maybe there's someone else there and again it would have to go to bid and so on and so forth we just had them come in to kind of give us a rough uh what it would cost would be um and basically an information session I think for that it was um so so Heather I don't oh go ahead is there anything I got two more to do but you go ahead and finish so I know we did a lot of talking prior to you getting there um but I think the the main concern is and and Mr Roger is one of them but there's other is what are we going to do about the fact that the grass is just not satisfaction done to our satisfaction of um how it should look and what it should look like and it's not just this committee that is stating that is actually your residence have have you have you been over to the North Cemetery not um since before Memorial Day okay well it looks pretty bad unfortunately just for my two sense just and you you're aware of this this has been going on for since we had our meeting at the library with the with the selectman last year last year and we still haven't resolved it I don't understand why it takes over a year to resolve a problem that we if we don't work it out it's going to just continue going year after year after year and the point that's in the back of my mind is that we have the facility director for the school system that is able to hire people to help him as outside contractor to do the schools to do the senior center to do the town two separate so school does their properties and Facilities department does town properties including Parks okay but he's able to hire outside contractor but if we already gave that's within the bud the facility's budget to hire outside contractors well I I think we're at that point I think it's a budgetary issue um say so if we had more funds available in the budget we'd be able to provide additional support to get all the cemeteries done to the cemetery commission's satisfaction and who puts I mean are we supposed to be putting that in the budget for the town I mean cuz we that would be your input to the director um as far as additional funding for and then it goes to the town manager in development of the budget because the way I see it now when it came to the um what's the big budget that uh the they the capital plan the capital plan we put our information together to the DPW there's always a hierarchy since we're commissioned it's the same and then the DPW gives it to the capital Planning Group and of course if they're going to approve anything the DPW is going to get their share before we get our share because they do the whole town you know and that's where I see that we're having problems uh I'm think I don't know if I'm misunderstanding what you're saying but the process with capital planning is all all the projects get put into um submissions and the capital planning committee has their rating criteria that they're all rated and and then they hear the presentations from each department on all the projects being requested and then they prioritize that so you you can prioritize meaning you're the final final Final right now what I was saying though is that or the town manager you're you're you're right as far as how it's presented to them but when I was at the meeting with the DPW director at the capital planning meeting it was just he separated what we're looking for and what the DPW is looking for but he had more emphasis on what the DPW was looking for because he's covering the whole town he needs a a loader he needs this electrical system he needs this this and this so in my eyes and I could be wrong but in my eyes they're going to approve what he needed for the whole town before we're just a little part of I I wouldn't say that's accurate um I think they look at cuz I mean obviously there's more projects than there's funding available we had $3.8 million in requests for just fiscal 25 um so that there's not enough funding to go around to cover it what they try to do that's why they look at evaluation criteria to prioritize their projects but then they bring in their own thoughts um and here and there's always the opportunity for someone to come to their meetings to advocate for a project maybe for information that they um wasn't brought up the first time around so um I think overall the capital planning committee tries to balance um departments and requests and they're not looking at it like DPW is getting this um much and just because it's um cem is under DPW um they've reached their allotted share of capital funding it's more on what the needs are of the town and to balance all those needs and prioritize things some that are safety issues more than others um as well right but $22,000 for the cemetery commission isn't doing it it just there's we can't we can't we can't continue this and not be able to keep the grass at the level that it should be at the C and please understand again it isn't the cemetery commission uh that is it's our it is our looking at the cemeteries knowing what they should look like and what they're not looking like and the town's people you know I also speak for the ones that call us to say hey could you bring this up I'm really upset about it I don't like the way it looks um could you try to help us with that process so it isn't just the cemetery commission we're just bringing it to the Forefront front which is it is not looking well at all and now we're going into again another holiday which is July 4th um and and I know they're prepping for the okay well and we'll be I believe I really would love to see you Heather go over there and look at the cemeteries um I'm just concerned how much longer it's going to take we've been talking about this for a year now I mean in business I know you said at the other meeting that the town is not a business but the town is a business you got finances you got expenses and you got Personnel it's just like a regular business out there so but we have limitations unlike businesses can sometimes just increase their prices with overhead costs where our town cannot we have limitations on our available funding sources so and that means resources um so this is where you have to you know pretty binary that we haven't staffed even though you have open positions you know you have open positions instead of filled positions it's been a hard job market for the last yeah the um you know are we not doing it because there's open positions and not filled positions and maybe there needs to be another position and uh I mean how much longer is it going to take we've done it a year I mean I want to let the people know you know that we're trying to get this done properly if we the point that we did a year ago was to say okay let's bring in an outside contractor to help the superintendent we didn't want him to think that we were taking his job away which I think he's thinking if we bring in contractors we're not we're we're he's telling us at that meeting that he doesn't have the time to do the whole thing if you don't have the time then we need to help him and give him the resource to resources so I know um know um I believe it's Lake View who's going to be coming in to help prepare for the 4th of July holiday as well so okay because the paperwork we got says that we don't have enough money isn't that what we just read there's not enough money to bring people in so I I hope that they do um I would like to see the numbers validated again because these seem awfully High to me of where we are um what lake view for instance I'm going to use an example at fish Street I do not believe it takes 2 hours to mow fish Street Fish street is not any bigger than this room it's not going to take me 2 hours with a push mower to do that so again I want to know where these numbers came from how are they were broken down on it because depending on the hours of you spend on the lawnmower again if you're not measuring it you're not managing it so I'd like to know where the measurements are on this and what what it bills down to because something doesn't seem right on these numbers and we know for a fact that with other companies coming in that uh the north on an average should only be 24 to 30 hours per week to get that done um and also the South Cemetery 16 to 20 that's what was stated in that pilot program that we did um and there's other companies that have stated the same depending on how many acres you have there um so I guess that's my point is are we being smart with with the time that we have and I guess that's that's the piece that I think needs to look into because we've done everything else and if we're going to keep doing this same thing over and over we're we're insane to keep doing this I have to cut this short I have an 11:00 meeting at the library we need to get done too so right so if you can look into that Heather and get back to us regarding that that would be wonderful and I thank you for your time coming in and helping with this it's much appreciated is there anything else Mike no I'm good Dave no all right do you want to journ at uh what time is it 10 105 1056 1056 second all in favor I adjourned thank you thank you