Cemetery Committee Membership - OnBoard

Cemetery Committee Membership - Updated March 2024

Purpose/Authority Ordinance-Code Book Chapter II, Article 2
Part C

Sec. 2-60. Purpose; members.
In order to preserve, maintain, protect and oversee the cemeteries in the town a cemetery committee (hereinafter referred to as the "committee") is hereby established. It shall consist of five (5) members and one (1) alternate who shall be electors of the town. It shall be the purpose of the committee to oversee and maintain all town owned or town operated cemeteries in the town in accordance with the provisions of chapter 368j of the state statutes. (Ord. No. 16-08, 12-02-2008)

Sec. 2-61. Membership and terms.
The town council shall appoint five (5) members to serve on the committee in the following manner: one (1) member shall serve for a term of two (2) years, two (2) members for a term of four (4) years, and two (2) members for a term of six (6) years. Biennially thereafter, the town council shall appoint one (1) member to replace each member whose term has expired. Within a period of sixty (60) calendar days after the appointment of members to the first committee, said members shall meet, organize, and elect a chairman, vice chairman and a clerk. Such committee shall have all the powers and duties of a committee established as provided for in chapter 368j of the state statutes.
(Ord. No. 16-08, 12-02-2008)

Sec. 2-62. Maintenance of fund.
A separate account known as the cemetery account (hereinafter the "account") shall be set up under the custody and control of the finance director of the town to hold, receive and administer funds for the preservation and maintenance of all town owned or town operated cemeteries. The funds in this account may be received from public or private sources including appropriation from the town's annual budget, private donations and the sale of gravesites or service fees associated with town owned or town operated cemeteries. Funds from the town's cemetery account shall be disbursed by the finance director upon the recommendation or request of the committee.
(Ord. No. 16-08, 12-02-2008)

Sec. 2-63. Donations and perpetual funds.
All private donations authorized or provided to be held in trust and perpetual funds established in accordance with § 19a-301 of the state statutes shall be under the control and custody of the finance director and shall not be commingled with the cemetery account or with the general funds of the town. The income, if any, from perpetual funds and the principal and interest from trust donations shall be used to maintain and preserve the cemeteries for which each fund was established or as otherwise authorized or provided for by the donor. The principal and interest of all private donations shall be used only in the manner and for the purposes designated by the donor(s) thereof. If no specific authorization or instructions are given with a donation it may then go into the account established in § 2-62 above.
(Ord. No. 16-08, 12-02-2008)

Sec. 2-64. Management of funds.
The finance director shall manage and control the private trust donations and perpetual funds and shall invest and reinvest the principal and interest of said funds as by law required for the investment of trust funds, except when otherwise authorized or provided by the donor of such funds. The principal of two (2) or more funds may be combined and merged in a single fund for the purpose of the investment of the same. The finance director shall annually on or before June 1st file an accounting of the cemetery account and all trust or perpetual funds including the balances, income earned, disbursements and the use of each disbursement. This report shall be forwarded to the committee for review and approval. Copies of the approved report shall go to the town council, the town clerk and the Berlin Probate Court as required by § 19a-301 of the state statutes no later than July 1st of each year.
(Ord. No. 16-08, 12-02-2008)