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Resident urges action on private cemetery perpetual-care fund; selectmen suggest expert review
Summary
Resident Tom Brackett asked selectmen to permit trustees or the town to use funds in a perpetual-care account to repair a family cemetery; selectmen recommended cemetery trustees consult charity-trust expert Terry Knowles and noted the trustees, not the selectmen, must follow RSA procedures for trust changes or land purchase proposals.
Tom Brackett, a Greenland resident, told the Board of Selectmen that a family cemetery whose perpetual-care fund dates to the 1940s has fallen into disrepair and asked the town to allow use of the remaining funds to restore the site.
"There's about $8,000 in this," Brackett said, referring to the account he raised at the meeting, and he offered to "cut me a check and I'll just start fixing this myself." He said the trust originally was established with a bequest intended to provide perpetual care but that service stopped after the funds diminished.
Selectmen and staff discussed options and repeatedly advised that the cemetery trustees should engage an expert in charitable-trust administration to clarify permitted uses of the funds. The board recommended the trustees consult Terry Knowles, identified by staff as a former assistant director at the state Charitable Trusts office who has worked for other town trust reconciliations.
Members clarified the limits of the selectmen’s authority: decisions about cemetery trust funds, use of those funds, and any proposed land purchases rest with the trustees and must follow the RSA and town warrant procedures if taxpayer money or town appropriations are involved. The meeting record includes discussion that one town-held fund described for land purchase contains about $145,000; selectmen said the trustees would need to assemble due diligence (surveys, environmental checks) and, if appropriate, present a warrant article for town consideration.
Selectmen offered to help by suggesting experts and confirming procedural steps, but they did not authorize use of town funds or change trust rules at the meeting. Brackett said he would consider working directly with the trustees and with a recommended expert.
Board members also noted related historical questions: the trustees had raised that a century-long lease connected to the Brackett Academy property is expiring this year, and the board suggested the trustees do due diligence to clarify any outstanding claims on public properties.
