SOUTHWICK – The Select Board met with Cemetery Commission Chairperson Sharon Horacek and Sexton Wendell “Bud” Phillips on Tuesday night to discuss the tree damage to both the Old Cemetery and New Cemetery in town.
The Southwick Old Cemetery. (WNG File Photo)
According to Phillips, recent weather has caused at least 24 trees to cause damage at both cemeteries, with 14 trees needing to be immediately removed. The other 10 aren’t considered to be a threat and could be taken care of in the future.
“There’s some huge trees that have just got out of control,” said Horacek.
Phillips pointed out that trees have come down and have taken corners off of some headstones at the Old Cemetery. One of the trees that fell knocked over a headstone, while another shattered the base of the other.
Failing to get the trees fixed that are in the ‘immediate’ category could result in people’s safety being in jeopardy.
“They (trees) keep dropping branches down,” said Phillips. “We’re just a little worried about anybody visiting over there and getting hurt.”
Select Board Vice Chairman Russ Fox suggested to fellow board members Joe Deedy and Doug Moglin that they contact the Finance Committee to request that they take money out of a reserve transfer fund so they can remove the immediate trees.
The project of extracting all 24 trees would cost anywhere from $18,000 to $20,000. The town will be in the process of sending that request out to bid for local tree services.
After agreeing to move forward with removing the immediate trees from the cemeteries, the Select Board made a motion to take $300 out of their account and give to the Friends of the Old Cemetery in order to clean some of the headstones. The Select Board has previously given $250 to the Friends of the Old Cemetery for cleaning headstones.
