Cemetery Commission

CITY OF SALEM MASSACHUSETTS BETH GERARD, CHAIR CEMETERY COMMISSION 98 WASHINGTON STREET - MAILING ADDRESS BOARD MEMBERS KATE HANSON SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL ANTHONY O’DONNELL TEL. (978)745-0195 JACOB ST. LOUIS MAYOR FAX (978) 741-7041 MINUTES OF THE CEMETERY COMMISSION October 19, 2022 A meeting of the Salem Cemetery Commission was held on October 19, 2022, at 6:00 p.m., via ZOOM, an online video conference call system. Present on call were: Chair Beth Gerard, Members: Kate Hanson, Jacob St. Louis and Anthony O’Donnell; Raymond Jodoin, Director of Operations. 1. Approve Cemetery Commission Meeting Minutes for June 15, 2022 Ms. Hanson made a motion to approve the Cemetery Commission Meeting Minutes for September 21, 2022. Seconded by Mr. O’Donnell. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion carried unanimously. 2. Raymond Jodoin, Director of Operations, Department of Public Services • Interment Activities within the cemetery since the last meeting: o 4 cremations, 3 full burials, and the sale of 2 boxes o Update on charter street cemetery seems to be going well under Elizabeth Peterson supervision and nothing to report at this time o Deferred maintenance is ongoing and getting ready for fall clean ups 3. Trust fund review • Ray Jodoin will present excel spreadsheet showing break down of the request and what that would look like for the commission to vote on. 4. Greenlawn Master Plan- Burke lot expansion (6.3), West chapel slope expansion (6.4), Maintenance area and visitor parking (6.1) Mr. Jodoin wants to focus on page 69, Expansion Recommendations which includes site maps. He also suggested focusing on page 74, Expansion Expense and Revenue Summary and recommends the cost should be in the projected revenue. Please see link for Master Plan which is on the Cemetery Commissions’ home page https://www.salemma.gov/cemetery- commission 1  Mr. Jodoin has made a recommendation to focus on Burke lot expansion (6.3), West chapel slope expansion (6.4), Maintenance area and visitor parking (6.1) as this area will need to be served in future some site work will need to happen first to assess moving these projects forward. It was also discussed about the winter clearing of these sites for spring surveying. There was discussion about the arboretum status as there may be species not cataloged there yet in the clean up sections. This discussion was held over to next month to give time for site walks with steak holders, councilpersons to go over scope of work for the winter month and what impacts there are if any. 5. Salem Cemetery Dickson Chapel update from the Building Inspector, Thomas St. Pierre, regarding usage The current structure know as Dickson chapel is classified as a A-3 structure. The building obviously predates the state building code (1975) and even Salem Building code (1920, s). because of the city very low use of the building, the city has not upgraded the life safety systems nor the accessibility issues. Also, we have not been overly concerned with code upgrades due to the minimal use. To expand the use and occupancy of this building, we would require a structural assessment of the building itself as well as an architectural review of the life safety systems as well as accessibility requirements and plumbing requirements for bathrooms. The commission want to break this down with Patti Kelleher and Tom St. Pierre to define how we can utilize this space moving forward given this letter and current conditions of the chapel. Commission wants to see if we can move meeting date and time to accommodate Patti Kelleher schedule. 6. Recent thefts of items on gravesites, looking for recommendations of locking pedestrian gates every night at dusk and opening at dawn Mr. Jodoin recommends leaving the pedestrian gates open at this time, this was also seconded by Jacob St. louis. There was a question of are there any more thefts. Mr. Jodoin responded not at this time he believes it was an isolated incident. 2 7. Heating system at Dickson Chapel status and recommendations Mr. Jodoin said the heating system is on the schedule to be asset and repaired or replaced and that stadium oil is scheduled to be on site the beginning of November. 8. Stain glass project for Dickson Chapel update and review Mr. Jodoin stated that the trust funds, funded 20k to secure Julie Slone, LLC consultants in stain glass to provide the following services for the Dickson chapel stain glass window project: • Site inspection, recommendations, and estimates • Technical specification • Bid documents • Bidding prosses review Pattie Kelleher would be the lead contact in this project at this time it was echoed that Patti Kelleher was an important piece to many issues in the cemetery and we should try to accommodate Patti schedule. 9. Dickson Chapel Building Usage Policy Review & Discussion – Vote It was decided to remove the vote discussion from the agenda as tom St. Pierre letter left some unanswered questions. Mr. Jodoin should work with Pattie Kelleher and Tom St. Pierre to understand current condition of chapel and where do we go from there. 10. Opening discussion regarding the Article III – Greenlawn Cemetery code of ordinances section 16-108 removal of items after reasonable time has elapsed Mr. Jodoin is looking to put this conversation off to next month’s discussion as he would like to present a schedule and mapping to have a larger discussion. Megan Riccardi was in attendance and stated that she would like to hold off until she had a better understanding about how the cemetery operates their removal of items before bringing up to council for them to remove the storing of items language. 11. 15-minute comment from the public Christine Lutts spoke about the chapel usage and wanted to know how one person had all the power to shut down a public building. 3  Christine also asked if there was any way Pattie Kelleher could be part of these discussions as she feels patties input would benefit the cemetery as a whole. Christine also stated that the Dickson chapel may be exempt from ADA requirements due to it erected date. 12. New Business There was no new business at this time. 13. Adjournment: Mr. St. Louis made a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Ms. Hanson. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Raymond Jodoin Know your rights under the Open Meeting Law M.G.L. c. 30A §18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033 4