CHESTER — The trustees caring for some of the town's most historic and aging burial grounds went head to head with selectmen to discuss money and mowing.
The Aug. 5 meeting followed a session last week, during which cemetery trustees and selectmen sparred over budget issues, including the purchase of two new riding lawn mowers and the timing of the purchase.
Trustees Steve Child, Geoff Barnett, and Aaron Mansur appeared before selectmen Tuesday night. The elected group oversees four town cemeteries, including the historic Village Cemetery, and Sanborn, Raymond Road, and North Chester burial grounds.
The Chester Village Cemetery, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has graves dating back before the Revolution with carvings by prominent New England craftsmen. A commemorative walkway winds through the oldest portion of the cemetery.
But trustees told selectmen the aging graveyards are often the most difficult to maintain, with close stones arranged in older patterns, or no patterns, making mowing and trimming harder to deal with.
"We're here basically just to iron out," selectman Robert Brown told trustees, adding the meeting was a way to improve communication between the two groups and to make sure things were moving ahead in the proper way.
Some things that moved along didn't settle well with selectmen last week, as the board questioned the cemetery group's May purchase of two new mowers, at a price tag of $6,138.
The purchase put cemetery workers over budget for new equipment, according to selectmen last week, but this week, all agreed it was time to work things out and get along.
"We had no communication from our liaison," said cemetery trustee Steve Child, "to tell us to do any different."
Child said communication had broken down between the town's top board and the cemetery group and often cemetery trustees felt excluded from financial discussion and planning.
Brown told the group they were doing a great job with the town's cemeteries, but it was their responsibility to stay aware of the budget process and the money available.
The new year's budget, approved at Town Meeting in May, includes money for cemetery work to be contracted out, selectmen reported. The $19,000 budget number in the 2008-2009 report includes not only equipment and mowing services, but other repair work and materials, such as loam, maintenance of trees, etc.
Brown said it's not about who has control of the cemetery money, but how it operates. He suggested the trustees request a budget report on a regular basis.
"I'm not disputing that," Cannon said. "The cemetery trustees have every right. But we need to be involved in that decision."
Brown, who serves as the selectmen liaison for the cemetery group, reiterated the trustees were doing a good job for the town, but everyone was clearly not on the same page.
Cannon said the group needs to make sure they know what money is in the budget and to stay involved in the budget process all year long, including meeting with selectmen, public hearings, etc.
Town budget committee representative Rhonda Lamphere said the budget committee did its job to post meeting times and hearings for the public about how the town's money was to be spent.
"You all know when budget season is," she said. "People are notified of meetings, everybody got a letter, everybody got a schedule. I think the budget committee did their job."
Selectman Mark Harris recommended hosting a workshop to discuss the town's mowing schedule, not only with cemeteries, but recreational fields and other areas.
