LIVERMORE FALLS — Town Manager Kristal Flagg has provided information to the District Attorney’s Office about the cost for a fence and the time town employees have spent related to damage to a private cemetery on Haines Corner Road.
Flagg told selectmen Oct. 7 that she and Public Works foreman Bill Nichols checked a fence and the grounds at the cemetery that have been damaged by farm animals from a neighboring property.
If there is any restitution for the sections of the fence that have been eaten through by the animals, it would go to the association that oversees that cemetery, she said.
Rick Tompkins, who owns abutting property to the cemetery, was cited by police in September on four civil violations of animal trespass because his animals had entered the cemetery property and another neighboring property.
The town is required to take care of veterans’ graves in cemeteries, including making sure the grass is mowed.
The town does raise money for the maintenance of town cemeteries but not for private cemeteries, Flagg said.
The only way municipal funds can be spent on a private cemetery is if a veteran was buried there prior to 1880. The issue would go before local voters for approval, she said.
There is a veteran at the cemetery who was buried in 1858.
The neighbor is using the cemetery fence as a way to keep the animals in, Flagg said.
The cost for a stockade fence is estimated at $466.70.
“We cannot purchase the fence unless it goes to voters, and it goes on a ballot,” she said.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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