BENTON — Town leaders drew heavy criticism this week from residents who complained about the unkempt appearance of many of Benton’s eight cemeteries.
At a meeting Monday, the Board of Select Persons was chastised for waiting too long in the spring to award the contract to mow and maintain the cemeteries.
Residents also questioned the board’s decision to award the contract to a town employee, a move that allows a municipal worker to profit from town business.
Some residents said the cemeteries were not mowed for three weeks in June, and handed out photographs of tall grass and towering weeds around headstones. Mowing was complicated for many people in Maine last month by the abundant rain.
Benton does not have an ordinance stipulating how town cemeteries are to be maintained, but the town website says mowing and weed trimming are to be done weekly in early spring and summer and every other week from midsummer to fall.
The entry to Ames Cemetery is shown Tuesday in Benton. Residents have complained this week to the Benton Board of Select Persons about the condition of the town’s cemeteries. They say the cemeteries are not being mowed enough and are unkempt. Some on the board, however, say the rainy summer has made it difficult to keep up with mowing and maintenance. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Cindy Gagnon and Joyce Wyand, who are members of the town’s cemetery committee, criticized the lack of maintenance. They said that in some cases, a lack of maintenance is unlawful because graves of veterans must be maintained properly.
According to a Maine statute, a municipality from May 1 to Sept. 30 must keep “grass, weeds and brush suitably cut and trimmed” on the grave of any veteran of the armed forces of the United States.
“We’ve got 4-foot weeds growing at the headstones. It’s despicable,” said Gagnon, known to many as the “headstone sleuth.”
“We all have somebody we love in these cemeteries. To just be so disrespectful, it’s so disheartening,” Wyand told the board. “Payment is being made for services not rendered. We have had enough sunshine to get it done.”
The town usually goes out to bid in March on a contract for cemetery maintenance to handle mowing and trimming. This year, the town did not close bids until mid-April because of a recent change made to Benton’s fiscal year, selectwoman JoAnna Kent said Tuesday.
Only two bids came in for the three-year contract for the work. One for $88,750 and the other, from Randy Raymond, the town’s road commissioner and sewer director, for $40,500, Gagnon said.
Despite a clause in the town’s contract for services stating “no employee of the town shall have any interest, direct or indirect, in this contract or proceeds thereof,” Kent said Raymond was awarded the job because his bid was significantly less than any other in recent years.
Kent said residents in recent weeks have mentioned to town officials the seeming conflict of interest. It was decided Monday the five-person Board of Select Persons will go into executive session Aug. 5 to discuss whether the contract should be reevaluated.
“We’ll have to revisit it and make it right,” Kent said.
Raymond said he has been submitting bills to the town treasurer for work performed on the cemeteries, Kent said. She said Raymond has mowed the cemeteries over the past month and things look to be in good shape since residents first complained at a board meeting in early July.
Raymond, who received the town’s Spirit of America Award this year, was not available Tuesday to answer questions about his work and whether he will be able to perform cemetery maintenance on top of his other duties. The Board of Select Persons, however, offered some explanation Monday.
“He’s got other work and it’s been a rainy season,” board member Robin Cyr said, adding that Raymond has pledged to use his personal time to catch up on projects now that the weather has improved.
Board members said they will discuss Raymond’s job performance and the possible conflict of interest during the August executive session.
In the coming weeks, the board is also expected to create a cemetery ordinance modeled after one adopted by the town of Belgrade.
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