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Resident proposes court‑appointed interim boards to preserve Spring Grove Cemetery and Blue Hills Civic Association
Summary
A Hartford resident urged the council during public comment to pursue a court process used in Bridgeport that allows courts to appoint interim boards to manage troubled nonprofits and cemeteries, and said she will provide model documents to the council.
A Hartford resident told the City Council’s public‑comment period that legal precedents exist to place interim boards in charge of nonprofit organizations and cemeteries that have become inactive or mismanaged, and she asked the council to consider the approach for two local institutions: the Blue Hills Civic Association and Spring Grove Cemetery.
Alyssa Peterson said she had researched a Bridgeport case involving the Park Cemetery Association and that the judicial website still hosts documents from that proceeding. “There is a way to go to court with legal help to get an interim board, get a court to put an interim board in place,” she said, and she told council members she would send the model documents to them electronically.
Peterson said the Bridgeport case went on appeal and that the attorney general later became involved. When asked whether the litigants obtained pro bono legal representation, she replied she did not know and that the information appeared in the initial complaint; she said she would provide the documents to council members.
Peterson framed interim boards as a mechanism to preserve assets and restart governance for struggling local organizations. “Ultimately, that cemetery needs to be made a park, in the city of Hartford. But until that happens, these 2 organizations need interim boards,” she said.
Why it matters: The Blue Hills Civic Association and Spring Grove Cemetery hold community assets and historic value; bringing an interim board could allow caretakers to stabilize oversight, manage property, and pursue longer‑term solutions. Peterson asked the council to review the Bridgeport precedent and consider whether similar court remedies or Attorney General involvement would be appropriate for Hartford.
Next steps noted on record: Peterson said she will send the Bridgeport documents and a proposed solution to council members electronically so they can assess the legal path forward.
