HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Cemetery Sextons - 06/18/2019Cemetery Sextons June 18, 2019
The South Burlington Cemetery Sextants held a meeting on Wednesday, June 18, 2019 at 2:00
p.m., at the VT Secretary of State’s office.
MEMBERS PRESENT: P. Taylor, D. Kinville, T. Chittenden
Invited Guests: Chris Winters, Deputy Secretary of State and Jenny Prosser, General Counsel &
Director of Municipal Assistance
1. Agenda Review.
No changes were made to the agenda
2. Instructions on exiting building in case of emergency:
Ms. Kinville provided emergency exiting instructions.
3. Comments & Questions from the public not related to Agenda items
No comments from the public.
4. Discussion with Secretary of State’s office on roles of sextons and cemetery
commissions
The following is a listing of questions and conversations during the meeting.
Fencing: The question was asked if we need fencing as Eldredge is missing one side and
Shelburne Rd is in need of repair and J. Prosser referred to the statue that says adequate
fencing around a cemetery (VSA 18 section 5361) shall be erected but cannot recall where a
municipality was fined for not having a completed fence.
Lot sales: D. Kinville asked if a town must sell lots or can they stop selling new lots at any time.
There is no requirement that a town must sell lots but they must have space in the town
cemetery or pay for a person’s burial who has insufficient assets to be buried somewhere else.
Sextons vs Cemetery Commissions: There was much discussion about the roles of the sextons
who are the administrative end of the cemetery and the cemetery commission who are the rule
and decision makers. When there is no cemetery commission appointed by the legislative body
of a municipality the legislative body is the cemetery commission.
Upkeep of cemeteries: The question was raised as to what degree the municipality is required
to care for the cemeteries and the headstones. J. Prosser referred to VSA 18 section 5362
which states that weeds and unattended grass shall be taken care of and headstones to be
repaired if possible. If headstones are to be replaced the owners of the lot shall be notified.
Green burials: Jennifer Martin Brown recently gave a presentation on green burials and P.
Taylor questioned if they knew of any green burial cemeteries being created and if they have
had any conversation with other municipalities regarding starting one. J. Prosser stated that
she doesn’t think that any municipality has created a green burial space and most are probably
done on someone’s personal land. They know of no green burial projects in the works.
Revision the cemetery: P. Taylor asked that if the City decided that they wanted to revision the
use of a section of a cemetery could they do it. C. Winters said he thought it would need voter
approval.
C. Winters and J. Prosser gave us some names to contact for further questions:
Jess Robinson Vt Commerce and Community Development
Sextons from Waybridge and Rochester whose cemeteries and grave sites were
damaged by storm Irene
5. Other Business:
No other business was brought before the Board.
6. Adjournment:
As there was no further business to come before the committee the meeting was
adjourned by common consent at 3:00 p.m.