Cemetery board asks council to fund engraved 'unknown' bricks and rolls out new forms

Members of the Bluff Cemetery Board presented the council with policy updates, new administrative forms and a small procurement request to mark unknown burials.

"Cathy located some engravable bricks online... We would need 18 of them at $39 each. They'd be engraved with the text 'unknown' for a total of $702 for taxes and shipping," a cemetery board member told the council. The board said the bricks are a low-cost way to respectfully mark unidentified interments and fit the cemetery's natural landscape.

The board also outlined five revised fillable forms for cemetery administration — a cemetery plot request (with payment), transfer-of-right-of-burial and relocation forms, an internment form with payment for opening/closing a plot, and a certificate-of-burial form — and said completed forms will be filed both digitally and physically and made available on the town website. The cemetery sexton was identified as Kathy, with Tom serving as backup sexton.

The board discussed organizing a volunteer cleanup and possible short ceremony for dedication of bricks and said the next cemetery-board meeting is May 8 at 10 a.m. Council members expressed gratitude for the volunteers' work and authorized staff to proceed with procurement and form publication.

The council noted no formal vote was necessary because the funding is available in the budget approved earlier in the meeting; staff said purchasing can proceed under normal procurement rules and will report back if any additional council approval is required.