Town of Chichester
Cemetery Trustees meeting
April 3, 2023
The Cemetery Trustees, Ruth Hammen, Fred Shaw, and Brenda Boswak met at 10:00 a.m. at the Historical Society building.
Old business
Volunteers have assisted us with removing the Remembrance Wreaths. A farm in town agreed to accept the wreaths for feed for their farm animals.
At town meeting on March 18, 2023, the warrant article we submitted requesting the town to assume ownership of the privately owned Hook Cemetery, failed to receive a vote in favor.
Diane Loso, the family member that made the request contacted us to express her disappointment. Ruth will contact her and let her know for 2023 she will continue to be responsible for maintenance. We will assist her to the best of our ability.
New business
We drafted a letter to the Board of Selectmen, expressing our disappointment over the nay vote on our warrant article. The body of that letter is as follows.
‘We are disappointed over the apparent lack of clear representation of our warrant article 'to see if the town will accept ownership and care of Hook Cemetery as requested by Diane Loso, descendant.'
January 31,2023, the Cemetery Trustees meet with the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee to answer questions related to this proposal. We informed both boards there are trusts already established for maintenance of the cemetery. The article states 'no cost to the town'. It appears this information may not have been accurately understood and possibly miscommunicated at Town Meeting resulting in a "vote not to accept" our warrant article. We believe the information was clear and did not think our presence was necessary at town meeting.
It also appears from our understanding of the accepted budget in the town report that the proposal by Selectmen Millette to incorporate our requested $5,000 for tree removal into the Road Agent's tree budget and earmark it for cemetery tree removal, with the agreement of the Cemetery Trustees, did not happen.
The Cemetery Trustees left the meeting with the understanding that our warrant article for Hook Cemetery with no cost to the town would be accepted and $5,000 for tree removal would be included in the Road Agent's budget for cemetery tree removal.’
Brenda has been in contact with Don Cotnoir, NH Monuments about beginning gravestone repairs for this season and installing the cornerstones that were ordered last fall. He will begin as soon as the ground thaws and dries out.
Ruth will set up a time with Lane Hodgkins to review what needs to be done for maintenance at Fellows-Webster Cemetery.
Meeting adjourned @12:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Boswak, Cemetery Trustee, Secretary