Town Bylaws: Chapter Nine- Cemeteries

The Town Administrator shall be responsible for the care, superintendence and management of public cemeteries in the Town, and may make such rules and regulations with respect thereto as may be authorized by law. The Town Administrator shall have the expenditure of all funds appropriated for the care, improvement or embellishment of said public cemeteries. The Town Administrator shall have such powers and duties as may be conferred or imposed upon cemetery commissioners by the laws of the Commonwealth and by these by–laws and shall be responsible to the Board of Selectmen for the efficient administration and management of said cemeteries; provided, however, that the Administrator may authorize the Commissioner of Public Works or the Cemetery Superintendent to exercise any power or perform any function or duty which is assigned to the Administrator under this section.

 

 

The Town Administrator shall keep set apart and reserved a sufficient portion of Brookdale Cemetery as a public burial place for the use of the inhabitants of Dedham, free of charge. The Town Administrator may also lay out any other portion of said Brookdale Cemetery in suitable lots or other subdivisions for family or other burial places, with all the necessary paths and avenues, in conformity with the plans adopted by the Town; may plant and embellish the same with trees, shrubs and flowers, and other rural ornaments; shall keep the said cemetery suitably enclosed by a wall or fence; shall maintain in good repair a receiving tomb; and may cause to be erected such other structure as may be necessary or convenient for the use of the cemetery.

 

 

The Town Administrator shall have authority to grant and convey to any person or persons, by deeds or certificates duly executed in the name of the Town of Dedham, the sole and exclusive right of burial, and of erecting tombs, cenotaphs and other monuments in any of the designated lots or subdivisions of Brookdale Cemetery, upon such terms and conditions as the Town Administrator by the rules and regulations prescribes. Such deeds or certificates shall be recorded by the Town Clerk in a book kept for that purpose in the Clerk's office.

 

 

The proceeds from sales of lots or rights of burial, or of any property in said Brookdale Cemetery, shall be paid to the Town Treasurer, to be kept separate and apart from other funds of the Town, and subject to appropriation by Town Meeting. Notwithstanding the terms of such appropriation, such proceeds shall be used solely for the care, improvement and embellishment, or the enlargement of the Town cemeteries.

 

 

 

The Town Treasurer shall receive such gifts of money as shall be paid into the Town Treasury by any person holding, occupying or interested in a lot in either of the public Cemeteries of the Town, for the preservation and care of such cemeteries.

 

 

The Town Treasurer shall invest or deposit all fees for perpetual care and all gifts received pursuant to Section 5 in a "Perpetual Care Fund" and pay the income therefrom on the warrants of the Selectmen for the preservation and care of the public cemeteries of the Town and in keeping such cemeteries in repair, in cutting the grass at such time and in such manner as the Town Administrator shall deem to be for the best interests of the cemeteries, or in accordance with such other stipulations relating to such preservation and care as the Town Administrator shall approve, which shall be made at the time of the deposit of the money.

 

The Town Administrator may appoint a Cemetery Advisory Committee which shall consist of five (5) residents of the town. The regular term of a member shall be three years, but when the committee is first established, the terms of the members shall be for one, two or three years and so arranged that the terms of approximately one third of the members will expire each year, and their successors shall be appointed for a term of three years each. Any member of the committee so appointed may, pursuant to Section 6–15 of the Dedham Home Rule Charter, be removed for cause by the Town Administrator. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment.

 

The Cemetery Advisory Committee shall advise and make recommendations to the Town Administrator for the purpose of improving the operation of the town cemeteries and the services offered to the inhabitants of Dedham. The Committee shall annually review and, with the approval of the Town Administrator, make and publish the rules and regulations for the use of the town cemeteries; shall annually review the operations of the cemetery and make recommendations regarding both the operating budget and capital improvements; shall no less often than annually make recommendations regarding cemetery fees; and shall make such other recommendations regarding land acquisition and utilization and cemetery management as will assure the town's ability to provide suitable burial places for the interment of persons dying within its limits. To this end the Committee shall conduct such studies and hold such conferences and meetings as are necessary. The Committee shall submit an annual report as directed by section three of Chapter Seven.