STRONG — Selectmen unanimously approved wording to clarify a policy for employees who use their vehicles for work-related activities.
“The town of Strong is not liable for any damage or injuries caused by an employee’s vehicle when it is being used for and/or in pursuit of town business,” according to wording proposed by Selectman Jim Burrill and accepted by the board.
The clarification was prompted after town custodian Tonia Boyd this month asked the town to pay the deductible on an insurance claim filed in an accident she had while on the job in July.
Selectman Rob Elliott said he consulted with the Maine Municipal Association and determined the town pays the employee for vehicle mileage but is not obligated for personal vehicle damage.
In other matters, Selectman Rod Spiller said he had concerns about the Village Cemetery. He said he has talked to people who don’t know how to find where their loved ones are buried.
The cemetery is the largest of nine in town. Although many of the older family cemeteries have been abandoned, the town is only obligated to care for veterans’ graves.
Town Clerk Betsy DuBois said office staff has a map in the Town Office for those looking for burial sites, which are identified by the person who bought them, rather than who is buried in the plot. Although the town had a cemetery committee many years ago, it disbanded.
Spiller said that, as a veteran, he hoped at least for identification of veterans’ graves.
“To me, those grounds are honorable,” he said.
The town does not employ a sexton to supervise the cemetery’s records and related duties.
Spiller suggested selectmen should consider hiring someone to oversee the Village Cemetery duties.
A sexton wouldn’t have decision-making powers to supersede owners of individual or family plots. Privately owned funeral homes can dig graves, but related municipal record-keeping duties are less clearly defined.
Selectmen said if they agreed to hire a sexton in the future, that person also could help with plowing during the winter.
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