BRUNSWICK

As Memorial Day fast approaches, the high, buzzing sounds of weed trimmers could be heard as crews worked to clean up Riverside Cemetery in time for the holiday.

It’s only a temporary fix for a graveyard whose oversight has been in a state of flux since Halloween 2014 when Riverside Cemetery Association President Scott Walker dropped off the maps and records for the cemetery at the Brunswick town manager’s office, with the intention that the town would take control of the cemetery.

Town officials had previously maintained that they have no obligation to take over the cemetery, but they are now making an effort to maintain the grounds.

“We’re continuing to make progress in trying to set up a successor organization to take care of the Riverside Cemetery,” said Town Manager John Eldridge in an interview last week. “We will make sure that it’s mowed and cleaned up for Memorial Day.

“We have an obligation under statute to take care of veterans graves and some ancient burial grounds, so we’re going to take care of it for now,” Eldridge added.

The town contracted D.C. Stilkey and Son for a one-time cleanup effort “to get them through Memorial Day,” said Christopher Stilkey, who runs the company that maintains 17 cemeteries in the area, on Monday.

In a March interview with The Times Record, Walker said there were no active board members, and that the association hadn’t had their annual meeting in two years.

Last week, Walker reasserted that the town ought to take over the cemetery.

“It would be the safest thing,” Walker said.

Walker added that he is no longer involved in the operation of the cemetery.

“It’s not my responsibility, technically, at this point,” said Walker. “Hopefully this all gets straightened out. I’ve done everything I could.”

Speaking on Monday, Stilkey said the association itself is to blame for the state of the cemetery.

Stilkey said he had once served as director for the Riverside association, but left about 10 years ago because he said the board “didn’t want to do anything to improve” the association’s financial situation.

Most cemetery associations are run by elderly board members, “and they want to run things like it’s 1919,” Stilkey said.

Stilkey said he would be willing to work on a new Riverside board for a year in order to get the cemetery stable again.

“I know everything there is to know about cemeteries,” Stilkey said.

There is a lot of legal wrangling to be done before ownership can change hands to a new board.

Meanwhile, confusion abounds, especially when it comes to loosely-measured plot locations in the central section of the cemetery in particular.

“It’s a horror show — the mapping, the record keeping,” said Stilkey. “I told the town, the least of your problems is mowing the place. … No one has maps and records in hand but the town, and the town doesn’t know how to use them.

“I feel bad for the town. They’re stuck,” said Stilkey.

Managing cemeteries has become much more complex over the last few decades.

“Finding a place to bury someone isn’t easy anymore,” said Stilkey.

“We’re trying to figure out the best way to move forward,” said Kathy Wilson, a Brunswick town councilor who has family members buried in the cemetery. “We’re hoping to find a way so this will be managed, so people who do have loved ones there, such as I, have a way to move forward.”

Wilson said that the process is slow and complex, but added that it was important to come up with a longrange solution as opposed to one that was merely a “Band-Aid.”

“To my knowledge, if somebody needs information they have to go to the town office, and they need to know we got this dumped on us,” Wilson said.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com