Cemetery group seeks formal status
Town Board members have been asked to designate the town Cemetery Task Force as a formal committee that can oversee functions of the historic burial ground rather than serve merely in an advisory capacity.
The request was made during a meeting last week, with Woodstock Cemetery task force member Teri Reynolds noting that work has included providing essential information needed for grant funding. Included in the effort was the arrangement to have a consultant work at no cost in identifying restoration needs.
“A few of us spent a lot of time using different colored flags to identify each category of every monument,” she said.
The town in April was awarded $206,000 from the state Division of Cemeteries for preservation work.
Reynolds noted that about $55,000 of the grant has been received, but state budget problems due to COVID-19 have put a hold on the balance of funding.
“What we (task force members) are doing ... is raising funding,” she said. “There are things that the grant would not fund such as a wrought iron fence and gate, landscaping, and any beautification projects. So not only do we need funds, we need volunteers from our community to help us.”
Town officials took over the 189-year-old cemetery on Rock City Road in 2018 after the association that previously operated the eight-acre site ran into a funding shortage.
Members of the former association reported there are about 10,000 gravesites
in the cemetery with only enough space remaining for about 800 new graves.
Other work done by the task force and consultant has included identifying areas of the cemetery for new gravesites.
“If we were to become a town committee we could possibly have contact or interaction with individuals who purchased a plot in our cemetery,” Reynolds said.
“We would have full access to the Town Board,” she said. “We do not know what the future holds so we’d like to know that instead of disappearing as task forces ... usually do the committee will continue on as an integral part of the town.”
Board members said the proposal is expected to be discussed during their Oct. 13 meeting.
Councilman Richard Heppner, who is also the town historian, supported the proposal for committee oversight of the cemetery.
“Over time we need this ... volunteerism to keep another eye on it,” he said. “If we set it up as a committee we would also ... have a system whereby interested people interested in preserving this important legacy in our town will move in and out.”