Fairfield cemetery board advances ordinance draft, online applications and plot-data cleanup; eyes $10,000 historic-preservation grant

The Fairfield Cemetery Board on April 1 reviewed a draft update to the town’s cemetery ordinances, agreed to reconcile discrepancies between the town spreadsheet and the Polaris plot-mapping system, and approved moving plot-purchase and internment applications to the town’s online portal ahead of a proposed Memorial Day open house.

Cody Butterfield, the town staff member who the board said will manage cemetery website and application work, told board members that she is “gonna be helping us with all the cemetery stuff from here on out” and is preparing the ordinance draft and online applications for the board’s review. Butterfield demonstrated the internment and plot-purchase forms in the town’s online portal during the meeting and described how completed online applications will route to cemetery staff for certificate printing and record-keeping.

The board emphasized correcting inconsistencies between an original Excel spreadsheet of plot records and the entries shown in Polaris, the cemetery mapping vendor. Board member Chance Carson said some plots are marked “unavailable” in Polaris but are “actually available,” and asked staff to compare the Polaris records to the original book/spreadsheet and correct any errors. Butterfield agreed to share the original spreadsheet with Polaris so the vendor can make the system match the town’s master list.

Why it matters: The changes aim to close gaps that can cause duplicate or missing records, allow online purchases and internment filings to flow automatically to staff for processing, and create a clear procedure for opening/closing graves and issuing certificates. Board members said correcting the public-facing map and the “who’s buried here” spreadsheet is necessary before the board begins selling plots.

Board action and next steps - Ordinance draft: Butterfield circulated a draft that she said combined prior edits and what is already posted on the town website. The board agreed to take time to review the draft offline and scheduled a review at the next meeting. Butterfield said she will share the draft as a Google Doc so members can comment before sending it to the town attorney (Todd) for formal review. - Plot records and Polaris: The board directed staff to retrieve the town’s original cemetery spreadsheet and use it as the authoritative source to update Polaris. A staff member said the town’s public map and the “who’s buried here” list should be driven by that spreadsheet. - Online applications: Butterfield demonstrated the town portal application workflow and said she will reformat the cemetery internment and plot-purchase forms to match the town’s other online forms; the board agreed. She explained that completed online applications will be routed to cemetery staff, who will print certificates and record the transaction in Polaris. - Certificates and mapping updates: The board confirmed the process where completed certificates and recorded burial reports are forwarded to a mapping contact (referred to in the meeting as Harmony/Withers) so the public map can be updated. - Memorial Day open house: The board discussed scheduling a burial-cell open house around Memorial Day and said several technical tasks (ordinance finalization, Polaris updates, and application testing) should be finished first. - Grant pursuit: The board discussed a state historic-preservation grant program described in a state newsletter forwarded to the cemetery email. Chance Carson said the program’s typical award is $10,000. Board members discussed including a higher fence estimate in the town budget to raise the match and improve the grant application profile; they also noted the program accepts in-kind labor or donations as part of matching contributions.

Selected quotes “Cody’s gonna be helping us with all the cemetery stuff from here on out,” said Cody Butterfield, who the board assigned to manage website, application and ordinance work. “I think the $10,000 round we should be able to get that without any trouble,” said Chance Carson, referring to the state historic-preservation grant program. “We have to make Polaris accurate to that,” a board member said of the town spreadsheet, describing the next step to align the vendor’s database with the authoritative list.

Details and clarifications - Grant timing and match: Board members said the state program’s application deadline is in May; Chance Carson and others discussed a $10,000 award level and noted that in-kind labor and donations can count toward the required match. Specific program name and formal grant terms were not stated in the meeting and were described only as information shared from the state historical archives/newsletter. - Records discrepancy: Board members described multiple categories of data problems: plots labeled “vacant but unavailable,” plots listed under owners who have not yet been buried there, and mapping offsets where grave locations do not align with historic paper maps. Staff said the town will supply the original Excel spreadsheet to Polaris to correct the public map. - Online portal naming: The meeting transcript used several variants when referring to the town’s portal (transcribed as “Hagov,” “hiccup,” etc.). Butterfield showed the portal interface used by staff and said the forms are already present in the portal back end even where the public link is turned off.

Meeting context The meeting lasted roughly 55–60 minutes and included repeated procedural approvals of previous minutes. Several board members and staff participated in detailed walkthroughs of the online forms and the Polaris map. The board scheduled follow-up work and a vote on any ordinance changes at the next meeting to allow members time to review the draft.

What’s next Board members asked Butterfield to share the ordinance draft and the town spreadsheet with the group and with Polaris, to update the public map and forms, and to return with a progress update at the May meeting when the board expects to decide whether it can hold a Memorial Day open house and begin selling plots.