The Select Board appointed two new members to the Cemetery Commission.
The Cemetery Commission has three members who are elected to three-year, staggered terms. The Commission sets policies, establishes regulations, and oversees the cemetery budget.
The select board interviewed four candidates before taking a vote to appoint David Rodgers, the town’s former Veterans’ agent, and Jerry Tucker, former Parks and Rec Commission member. Rodgers and Tucker will officially be sworn in to the Cemetery Commission at the town clerk’s office.
Commissioner Richard F. Colletti and the select board interviewed four applicants for the two open vacancies. All applicants were told to wait outside while the board brought in candidate Peter Lake for the first interview.
Lake brought his dog with him and discussed his time with the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and the K9 Corps membership, where people could pay a membership fee to walk their dogs through the cemeteries. He proposed a similar program for the town and to change the “no dogs allowed” rule to permit dog walking.
“I think it would give citizens a reason to walk there besides the sad time when you go to a funeral and you lay flowers,” Lake said. “I see a tremendous number of veteran graves there and I think it would allow people to increase their historical knowledge of the town.”
Lake was seated in the audience after his interview as candidate Rose McCarthy was told to come in for her interview.
As a previous member of the commission, McCarthy expressed her interest in returning to the board to finish a project she had started on installing a policeman’s memorial.
“It’s not gonna be dug up to put anybody in, just a nice headstone,” McCarthy said. “They say that’s pretty pricey but I know the price for the police and I don’t feel like we’ll miss out on getting the money.”
Once Rose was seated in the audience, Rodgers took a seat at the table and emphasized the importance of fixing the conditions of the cemetery.
“I know it needs some work,” Rodgers said. “There’s some water problems, maybe the pool, and the proposed plan for a new veterans lot down at Creasy Street is very important as well.”
He also proposed the idea of the board meeting more than four times a year, a concern that was also brought up in the next and final interview with Tucker.
“I looked at the meeting minutes and I noticed that most meetings were an hour long or so, maybe a little over an hour,” Tucker said. “So for a committee to meet five or six hours a year and determine important things doesn’t seem like it’s enough time.”