Cemetery Commission

GUILFORD CEMETERY COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday 16 February 2023  9:30 am Town Office

Cemetery Commissioners Present:
Nancy Detra, Eric Morse, Verandah Porche, Carol Schnabel

Member of the Public Present:
Lynn Pancake

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 9:30 am 

Approval of Minutes:
The minutes from January were approved as submitted.

New Business:
Carol received the VOCA newsletter and their spring meeting will be in Vergennes on May 6, 2023.  Deadline to reserve is April 15.  Carol will keep us posted on topic when she hears.

Old Business:
Burial in Carpenter Cemetery- Lynn Pancake came to discuss green burials and inquire about buying burial plots.  Green burials are allowed in Vermont and there are a variety of ways to do this.  We talked about asking Rodney Bell to meet some of us at the Carpenter Cemetery in the spring.  We discussed protocols for green burials. 

Brochure- Nancy and Evelyn McLean are about to meet to get this ready to print.  Eric contacted Jeff Nugent who is working on a map of Guilford Cemeteries.  

Flag count-  Carol contacted Penny and there are plenty of flags for now.  

Flag holders- Kyle is working on that and will have the information for the next meeting.

Identifying veterans- We have been working on getting a better list of veterans buried in Guilford.  

Town meeting- Nancy offered to nominate Kyle from the floor.

Cemetery signs-  Kyle is working on that.

Insurance- nothing needs to change at this time.

Another Guilford citizen looking to buy a plot- Eric has had trouble reaching him and Nancy is going to get the contact information.

Actions to be Taken:
Kyle- information on PVC and signs.
Carol- work on more accurate count of veterans and also get in touch with West Guilford and
Christ Church Cemeteries.
Nancy- brochure and finding contact info for person seeking to buy a cemetery plot
Eric- contact Rodney Bell

Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

NEXT MEETING THURSDAY MARCH 16 9:30 AM GUILFORD TOWN OFFICE

GUILFORD CEMETERY COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday 19 January 2023 11 am Town Office

Cemetery commissioners present:
Nancy Detra, Eric Morse, Kyle Holmquist-Parker, Verandah Porche, Carol Schnabel

Member of the Public present:
Barry Aleshnick

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 11 am.

Approval of Minutes:
The minutes from November were approved as submitted.

New Business:

Commission contact list- Carol went over the contact list to make sure it is correct- she will resend it to everyone.  

Insurance- Verandah will check back on that.

Burial plots at Carpenter Cemetery-  Eric and Carol met with 2 Guilford residents who are interested in buying burial plots at Carpenter Cemetery.  They made a plan to meet again in the spring to choose a spot.  The interested party also sent Eric a follow-up email with information about Green Burials.  Carol will forward that to all of the commissioners.  We talked about inviting Rodney Bell to an onsite visit to Carpenter Cemetery in the spring to discuss interments, equipment used, etc.

Flag Count- Carol received a call that said we did not have the correct number of flags needed for the West Guilford Cemetery.  The people from that group will try to get us a more up-to-date count.  Carol will ask Penny how many flags we still have in storage at the Town Office.  We discussed having a work day in the spring where we cut and paint PVC pipe to use as holders for flags.  If those are in place it would make it much easier to find the graves that need flags.  Kyle will look into the PVC pipes.  We discussed how to get a more accurate list of who the veterans are that are buried in Guilford- Carol will look at the Guilford History book.  It was suggested that Dick Clark might know how to find this out.  

Christ Church Cemetery- Barry Aleshnick came to get some suggestions and up-date us on how things are going there.  They have gotten new trustees since he last was in touch with us and the Board is working on fundraising, which is good news.   Barry’s concern is that there are a lot of jobs that he does that no one else knows how to do and none of his trustees has the time to be his back-up.  We brainstormed with Barry and hopefully that was a help for him.  We spoke about having a liaison from their group to ours.  

Town Meeting-  We will decide at our February meeting who will nominate from the floor the commissioner who is up for re-election in March.

Old Business:

Brochure- Nancy brought a revised mock-up for our brochure.  Some edits were proposed.  Eric will get a good map of the cemeteries in Guilford from Jeff Nugent.  Nancy will work on finalizing the layout for our approval.  We discussed reviewing the brochure on a regular basis (every three years or so) to make any up-dates that might be needed.  

Maplehurst- A Guilford resident is looking into buying a burial plot there.

Cemetery signs- Kyle will try to get us mock-ups for February so we can choose what we prefer.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 12:38 pm

NEXT MEETING THURSDAY FEBRUARY 16  9:30 AM GUILFORD TOWN OFFICE

GUILFORD CEMETERY COMMISSION MEETING
Thursday 17 November 2022  9:30 am Town Office

Cemetery Commissioners Present:
Nancy Detra, Kyle Parker, Verandah Porche, Carol Schnabel
Absent: Eric Morse

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m.

Approval of Minutes:
The minutes from September were approved as submitted.

New Business:
We discussed reimbursements for work done at cemeteries and also our request to the Selectboard for next year’s budget.  As costs of mowing have been increasing (labor and fuel costs are rising) and because we intend to create signs for all of the Town Cemeteries (one time cost), we will request $7000 for our budget for next year.  

We had a long discussion about what type of burials are allowed at Carpenter Cemetery and other historic cemeteries.  We also discussed types of green burials.  

We discussed our submission to the Town report – reviewed what we have done this year so far and made suggestions of what should be included.  

Carol passed around the Vermont Old Cemeteries Association newsletter.  

Old Business:
We reviewed the mock-up for the brochure we have been working on.  We discussed adding a list of all the Town Cemeteries and a map. 

Actions to be taken:
Verandah will write a submission for the Town Report.  Nancy will work on the brochure.  Kyle will pursue more information on the signs.  Carol will contact Eric about Carpenter Hill burials.  Carol will create a contact list for us.  Submit request to Town for budget.

Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 10:55 a.m.