Cemetery Commission Meeting: August 18, 2025

Present: Commissioners Lynne Grettum, Greg Miranda, Mike Warren, Melissa Cumming, and Cemetery Superintendent O’Neill Mazyck

Absent:  Commissioner Paul Constantino

The meeting was called to order by Chair Grettum at 7:08 P.M.

Elect FY26 Chair and Clerk

Action taken to elect Cemetery Commission Chair:  L. Grettum nominated by M. Warren, seconded by M. Cumming.  Lynne was re-elected to Chair by unanimous vote of 3-0.

Action taken to elect Cemetery Commission Clerk:  G. Miranda nominated by M. Warren, seconded by M. Cumming.  Greg was re-elected to Clerk by unanimous vote of 3-0.

Review of Meeting Minutes from June 9, 2025

The meeting minutes from June 9, 2025 were reviewed by members; one correction made to the amount paid by town to buy back 4 lots from the Dean family, the correct price was $125/lot rather than $150/lot.  Minutes were then approved by unanimous vote, 4-0.

Superintendent Report 

Two months of Superintendent Reports were reviewed (from June and July) since no meeting was held last month.

June:

There were no burials; one full lot sale.

July:

There were two cremation burials; one cremation lot sold.

Resolved issue regarding excess noise by maintenance crew at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Cement removed in front of entrance to one of the former mausoleums in Meetinghouse Cemetery, in preparation for installation of permanent metal door.

Met with L. Grettum and the Westminster Cemetery Superintendent at their cemetery to discuss practices and view columbarium.  Found that the construction cost of their columbarium was around $60,000 for 60 vaults (capacity 120 cremains at 2 per vault), or about $1,000/vault.

Westminster requires a vault for all cremation ground-burials.  Superintendent Mazyck recommends following same practice for Princeton going forward.  Vaults make buried cremains easier to find and also prevent breakage of bare urns.  Members approved.

Investigated a request for cremation burial on top of existing full burial in Woodlawn Cemetery, found that was not possible due to shallow depth of grave.  Alternative location within burial lot not directly above full burial was utilized with permission of family.

Members discussed the issue of the shallow grave depth and agreed with using a burial depth of six feet for full burials.  Superintendent Mazyck already follows that practice.  The previous Superintendent had requested the use of a four-foot minimum depth which the Commission allowed at the time.  Burial depths are not specified by state law or our rules and regulations.  The Commission recently changed the rules and regulations to allow up to four cremation burials in a full lot, either alone or on top of one full burial, and the six-foot depth allows safe space for cremains above.

The sizes of cremation vaults and McKenzie urns was discussed.  Current size vaults are 21” tall; Superintendent Mazyck to investigate availability of smaller sized cremation vaults.

Administrative Updates/Issues

Open Meeting Law:  Remote meetings may be held with all members remote versus requiring a quorum of members being present in-person.  Votes must be held by roll-call if any members are meeting remotely.

Long Range Plan:  L. Grettum and G. Miranda attended SelectBoard meeting for review of Cemetery Department LRP.  There were only a few questions and the feedback was positive.  The main concern was capital planning beyond 10 years, which is too far out for accurate predictions.

Private Burial Services:  A request for information regarding a private burial service was refused.  Princeton cemetery policy does not allow information to be released if the family has requested a private service.

Financial Update

Final accounting of FY25 funds has not been completed yet.

Capital planning: only applies to requests greater than $10,000; no requests from Cemetery Department in FY26.

Project Planning for Remainder of 2025

The list of ongoing and anticipated projects was reviewed, and work scheduled for completion in calendar year 2025 highlighted.

Ground penetrating radar analysis is required to finalize inventory of available grave lots.  The operator we have used is currently unavailable due to illness with return date unknown.  Investigate alternative service suppliers

Cemetery database updating by L. Grettum is continuing.

Plan the renovation of brick storage building in Woodlawn and investigate sizes of water storage containers that could fit inside.

Investigate landscaping planners for improvements to South Cemetery in 2026.

Town-wide tree work was performed earlier this year without any work being done in the cemeteries.  Superintendent Mazyck to survey cemeteries, especially Parker II, to see if any trees or limbs need to be removed before winter to prevent damage to memorials.

Arrange for repainting of entrance gate to Woodlawn Cemetery.

Look into cost for installation of flagpole and solar light for Parker II Cemetery.

Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours before meeting

A question was raised regarding the management of the cemetery trust funds.  Chair Grettum noted that she had not seen them listed in town information and will inquire further about their status.

Schedule Next Meeting

Chair Grettum scheduled the next meeting for Monday September 15, 2025 to start at 7:00 P.M. in the Town Hall Annex – Small Meeting Room and remotely by GoToMeeting.

The October meeting was also scheduled, for Monday October 20, 2025, same time and place.

A motion was made to adjourn, seconded, and passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 8:46 P.M.

Submitted by Greg Miranda, Clerk