Bill Text - SB72 (2010)

Consolidating cemetery boards of trustees in Nashua.


Revision: May 19, 2010, midnight

CHAPTER 32

SB 72-FN-LOCAL – FINAL VERSION

01/21/10 0136s

2010 SESSION

09-0978

06/04

SENATE BILL 72-FN-LOCAL

AN ACT consolidating cemetery boards of trustees in Nashua.

SPONSORS: Sen. Lasky, Dist 13; Rep. Clemons, Hills 24; Rep. Cote, Hills 23; Rep. Campbell, Hills 24; Rep. P. Price, Hills 26

COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill consolidates the boards of the Edgewood, Woodlawn, and Suburban Cemeteries in Nashua into 2 boards, one for the Edgewood and Suburban cemeteries and the other for the Woodlawn and Lithuanian Cooperative cemeteries.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01/21/10 0136s

09-0978

06/04

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten

AN ACT consolidating cemetery boards of trustees in Nashua.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

32:1 Nashua; Cemeteries; Trustees; Meetings; Vacancies. 1893, 243 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

243:1 Boards of Trustees.

I. There is hereby constituted 2 boards of trustees, each made up of 10 members. One board to be known as the Edgewood Cemetery Board of Trustees shall have supervision of the cemetery located between Amherst, Cushing, and Forest streets in the city of Nashua, known as the Edgewood Cemetery, together with any and all additions thereto, and the cemetery situated on the west side of the Lowell road adjoining and northerly of the brick schoolhouse, and bounded on the west by land of Lund, on the north by land of Thompson, and commonly known as the “Old South Cemetery”; the cemetery situated on the west side of the Lowell road, bounded on the south by land of Hiland A. Holt, on the west by land of Marshall, on the north by land formerly owned by Aaron F. Stevens, and known as the “Pratt Cemetery” and also known as the “Evergreen Cemetery”; the cemetery near the Stillman Swallow place, and known as the “Gilson’s Road Cemetery”; and the cemetery situated on the easterly side of Amherst Road, so called, bounded on the north by land of Roby, on the south by land of Roby and known as the “Roby Cemetery” and also known as the “Hillside Cemetery”, which cemeteries are known as Suburban Cemeteries; and the other board to be known as the Woodlawn Cemetery Board of Trustees shall have supervision of the cemetery located between Hollis and Kinsley streets in the city of Nashua, known as the Woodlawn Cemetery, together with any and all additions thereto; and the cemetery known as the Lithuanian Cooperative Cemetery located on Pine Hill Road in the city of Nashua, together with any and all additions thereto. The initial members of the Edgewood Cemetery Board of Trustees and the Woodlawn Cemetery Board of Trustees shall be constituted by the mayor in convention with the board of trustees in office at the date of enactment of this act. Two members of each board shall retire from office each year, and 2 members of each board shall be elected by ballot, annually, in the month of March, by the board of mayor and aldermen of said city, in convention with said board of trustees, by majority vote, to hold their office for 5 years, retiring trustees having no vote therein, the first of which elections shall take place in March, 2011; and the term for which the members of each board herein appointed shall hold their office shall be determined by lot, 2 to hold their office for 5 years, 2 for 4 years, 2 for 3 years, 2 for 2 years, and 2 for one year. The mayor of said city shall be an ex-officio member of both boards and shall be entitled to vote. Said trustees shall receive no compensation for their services as such. Said boards shall meet annually on the first Monday in April for organization, and each shall elect a chairman, a vice-chairman, and secretary from their own number and 6 members of a board shall constitute a quorum for the exercise of the powers and the performance of the duties of said boards. Any vacancy occurring in either board, by death, removal, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled by said board of mayor and aldermen in convention with such board of trustees for the remainder of the term.

II. Each board shall appoint a chair, a vice chair, and a secretary. The secretary of each board shall keep the minutes of the board, post meetings, and prepare an annual report. The city treasurer shall keep the books and prepare the books for audit. The city treasurer and the trustees of the trust fund shall prepare an annual report for the mayor and the office of the attorney general.

243:2 Powers and Duties.

I. The Edgewood Cemetery Board of Trustees and the Woodlawn Cemetery Board of Trustees shall:

(a) Adopt bylaws and regulations for their transaction of business and for the establishment and management of all municipal cemeteries within their responsibility.

(b) Prepare an annual budget indicating what support and maintenance shall be required out of public funds for submission to the appropriate agency of the city. A separate budget request shall be submitted for planning and establishment of a new public cemetery and for capital improvements or expansion of an existing public cemetery.

(c) Authorize the expenditure of all moneys raised and appropriated by the city for cemetery purposes. Such funds shall be maintained in the general fund and paid in the same manner that funds of other city departments are paid.

(d) Authorize the expenditure of income from all trust funds for cemetery purposes in accordance with the conditions of each donation or bequest accepted by the city. Such trust funds shall be held in the custody and under the management of the boards of cemetery trustees. The trust income shall be transferred to the city of Nashua by the boards of cemetery trustees and the city treasurer who shall disburse the same in response to vouchers executed by the Edgewood and Woodlawn boards of trustees, if the requested funds are available. Such trust fund income shall not be commingled with the moneys raised and appropriated by the city.

(e) Prepare deeds of cemetery lots for the mayor to sign.

(f) Set apart and lay out a portion of the Edgewood Cemetery and a portion of the Woodlawn Cemetery; not exceeding one tenth of their area, as a public burial-place for the use of the inhabitants of Nashua, free of any charge, and they shall lay out the balance of said cemeteries in suitable lots or other subdivisions for family or other burying-places with all the necessary paths, avenues, and drives, and may plant and embellish the same with trees, shrubs, flowers, and other ornaments, and may enclose the same with proper and suitable fences or hedges, and erect or annex thereto such suitable edifices, appendages, and conveniences from time to time as expedient.

(g) Have the same power and authority as cities and towns may have in such premises, to acquire, by purchase or otherwise, land adjoining said cemeteries, to be used for the same purposes.

(h) Hold such property and estate for the same uses and purposes, and charged with the same duties and liabilities for and subject to which the same are now held by the city of Nashua, and all rights of ownership of lots which any person or persons have acquired in such cemeteries shall remain to the same extent as if this chapter had not been passed.

II. The boards of trustees may appoint a cemetery custodian or sexton who shall not be a trustee and who shall be responsible to the boards of trustees for supervising work done in the cemeteries.

243:3 Authority to Convey Rights and Privileges. The boards of trustees shall have authority to grant and convey to any person or persons, by deeds duly executed, the sole and exclusive right of burial, and of erecting tombs, cenotaphs, tablets, and other monuments, in any of the designated lots or subdivisions of such cemeteries, upon such terms and conditions as they by their rules and regulations shall prescribe.

243:4 How Money is Disposed. The proceeds of sales of lots or rights of burial, appropriations by the city of Nashua, or other moneys, except as provided, received for such cemeteries, shall be paid into the city treasury to be kept separate from any other funds of the city and subject to the order of said boards of trustees, and shall be devoted to the care, improvement, embellishment, and enlargement of said cemetery under the direction of said boards of trustees.

243:5 Bequests. The boards of trustees are authorized to take and hold any grant, donation, or bequest of property; upon trust, to apply the same, or the income thereof, for the improvement or embellishment of such cemeteries, or for the erection, repair, preservation, or renewal of any monument or other erection, or for the planting and cultivation of trees, shrubs, or plants in or around any lot, or for improving the premises in any other manner or form consistent with the purposes for which such cemeteries are established, according to the terms of such grant, donation, or bequest; and whenever any such grant, donation, or bequest, or any deposit, shall be made by the owner of any lot in such cemetery, for the annual repair, preservation, or embellishment of such lot and the erection thereon, the boards of trustees may give to such owner, or his or her representative, an agreement or obligation, in such form and upon such terms and conditions as they may establish, binding themselves and their successors to preserve and keep in repair said lot forever, or for such period as may be agreed on; and any legacy, bequest, donation, grant, or deposit heretofore made to said city for like purposes in such cemetery, and now in force, shall be placed under the control of the boards of cemetery trustees. Each board of trustees, as constituted under this chapter, is hereby authorized and empowered to establish and create a perpetual care fund, additional to that authorized by the original act, by setting aside such sum or sums as the board may deem best and to take, receive, and place therein any donation, legacy or bequest specifically made therefore and which shall be known as the fund for the perpetual care of the paths, walks, drives, and avenues of such cemetery, as well as for the fences enclosing the grounds; that such fund shall be invested, treated, considered, and held, and the liability of the city of Nashua shall be the same as, other perpetual care funds, as set forth in the original act; that the interest or income only of such fund shall be used and applied by said board of trustees for the construction, care, and maintenance of such paths, walks, drives, avenues, and fences of such cemetery.

243:6 Disposal of Gifts. Any sums of money so received by the boards of trustees shall be invested under the direction of said boards of trustees; said boards of trustees may manage and invest such funds in accordance with the prudent investor rule under RSA 564-B:9-901 – RSA 564-B:9-906 and all such property received under the provisions of the foregoing section, unless other provision is made by the terms of any such grant, donation, or bequest, shall be invested under the charge of said boards of cemetery trustees and shall always remain separate from and independent of any other moneys or property belonging to said city of Nashua and free from all control of the city council; and the income of such fund or funds shall be received by said treasurer, subject to the order of said boards of trustees, and shall be appropriated by them in such manner as shall in their opinion best promote the purposes for which said grants, donations, bequests, or deposits are made.

243:7 City Responsible for Trustees. The city of Nashua shall be responsible and bond for the good faith of said boards of trustees, the trustees of trust funds, and the treasurer of said city in the execution of any trust which they may assume pursuant to the foregoing provisions; but said trustees shall not be liable to make any renewal or reconstruction of any monument or other erection, on any lot in such cemeteries, unless such liability shall be expressed in the agreement given them as aforesaid, or in the terms and conditions under which they accept any grant, donation, or bequest.

243:8 Reporting. The chairs of the Edgewood Cemetery Board of Trustees and the Woodlawn Cemetery Board of Trustees, the city treasurer, and the trustees of the trust funds shall make annual reports of their acts and proceedings, the condition of the cemeteries, and their receipts and expenditures, to the attorney general and the mayor and board of aldermen of the city of Nashua.

243:9 Open Meetings and Records. The boards of trustees shall be subject to all requirements of RSA 91-A.

32:2 Repeal. The following are repealed:

I. 1895, 223 relative to Woodlawn Cemetery.

II. 1897, 194 relative to Suburban Cemeteries.

32:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Approved: May 18, 2010

Effective Date: July 17, 2010

LBAO

09-0978

Amended 02/02/10

SB 72-FN-LOCAL - FISCAL NOTE

AN ACT consolidating cemetery boards of trustees in Nashua.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill, as amended by the Senate (Amendment #2010-0136s), may have an indeterminable fiscal impact on local expenditures and revenue. There is no fiscal impact on state and county expenditures or revenue.

METHODOLOGY:

    The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill consolidates the cemetery boards of trustees in Nashua. The Association states the consolidation of the cemetery boards of trustees may have an impact on the expenditures and revenue of the city but does not have access to information that would indicate the impact. As a result, the Association cannot determine the fiscal impact of this bill on local expenditures and revenue.