Town Cemetery Committee
October 17, 2016

Present: Tim Giroux, Russell Smith, Sue Haines, David Jenney, Jim Ashton,chair Jane Aiudi and town manager Mary Sabins

Met at 3:30 at the town office.

Approved minutes from September meeting.

1.Jim reported on the installation of signs. Two more have been put up – at the cemetery opposite the school on Webber Pond Rd and at the Lalime Cemetery. Jim guessed that there are 10 more to do. We discussed the cemetery on Crowell Hill Rd which has burials but no stones (on the site). The land is for sale, we haven't made contact with the current owner and are concerned that the potential buyer be aware that there are graves on the site and he could not build at that spot. The deeds to the land do not mention graves or cemetery.We will put a sign in the road right of way. We will also look into speaking with the realtor to let them know about the graves.

Jim asked if anyone was available to help put up signs – Tommy can help sometimes and Tim said he was available some times. Mary urged Jim to contact Gene (public works) as he might be able to send some one to help. Jim was concerned to some how mark the edges of a couple of the cemeteries with posts or other markers. Russell mentioned a couple of cemeteries at his end of town: Nelson Rd (Warren) and Whitehouse Rd.

We noted that there are burials around the Civil War monument at China Lake, the old Baptist Burying ground. This also has no stones.

2. Rules and Regulations, currently written for the North Vassalboro Cemetery, but we are discussing having them apply to all town cemeteries. It not as easy as merely changing the wording from North Vassalboro to all cemeteries. Over the winter Jane will look at these and see where changes need to be made. The orange copy (which I think we all got in September) is not accurate. There is a height given for monuments, and the correct copy has no height.

3. Computerization of records: Mary spent most of the day looking at the webinar from Pontem, talking with Julie from there and then seeking out grant possibilities. The software will do what we want, but we will have to name “avenues” in the cemeteries and assign plot numbers or designations. For grants Mary went to the Maine Humanities Council and found two possible grants: a mini one of up to $1000 and a major on of $1001 - $7500. Both are matching meaning we need to put in “in kind” effort. Having a town library person on the committee would also help (such as me). Public access to the records is in our favor and Pontem supports such access. We discussed timing of application and granting.
Another source for a grant is ME Historical Records Advisory Board. This grant is up to $4,000.
We approved letting Mary proceed with this grant writing etc. process, which we can review at our November meeting.
David asked if we could have a demo disk or other means of actually trying it out – putting in some of our data and “playing with it”.

4. We discussed taking the winter “off, and carrying on via email. Mary was discouraging as our meetings are open to the public – which email would not be. We will plan to meet in November and then again in Jan.

5. Next meeting: November 16 – Wednesday – at 3:30