SAUGUS — Following a unanimous vote of approval Monday night, the Cemetery Commission is set to move forward with their proposed expansion of Riverside Cemetery across Shute Brook that would potentially free up thousands of additional grave spaces.
The commission has moved forward on expansion at a rapid pace in order to get an article on the Annual Town Meeting warrant, with the knowledge that space in the cemetery is dwindling. Cemetery Superintendent John Falsacca estimated that just 40 grave spaces remained, and noted that he sold two in the past week. Without expansion, the town will not have a public cemetery where residents can be buried.
The proposal approved by the commission was solicited by Chair Richard Thompson from Engineering Alliance, Inc., a Saugus-based civil engineering and land-planning firm. The total scope of the work within the proposal is $66,100, as Thompson explained that EAI went beyond simply the costs of a survey of the existing conditions at the land across the brook, including costs for design and development.
The proposal hit a brief snag when Thompson said he was only able to solicit one quote and Falsacca said he believed the commission needed to secure three bids to move forward. Falsacca said it was his belief that the design work included in the proposal was subject to state laws regarding public bidding.
But, Thompson said he had reached out to four companies in the time between the commission authorizing him to do so and Monday.
And, a frequently asked questions document regarding public bidding posted to the state’s website notes that an awarding authority may accept a bid when there is only one bidder. As a result, it appears the commission is in the clear.
Commissioner Janice Jarosz said she would seek Town Counsel John Vasapolli’s opinion Tuesday.
Should Vasapolli deem the commission does in fact need to seek additional bids for the design work, commissioners voted to move forward with putting just the cost of the survey work — $18,000 — before Town Meeting.
The Board of Selectmen is set to vote on inserting the commission’s article into the Annual Town Meeting warrant Tuesday evening, the same day the warrant closes.
Thompson said the funds for expansion work would likely come out of a free cash allocation or the town’s stabilization fund as opposed to the cemetery department budget itself.
School Committee member Dennis Gould, a former member of the commission who had worked on a previous expansion effort that failed to win approval at Town Meeting, praised commissioners for finalizing a plan.
“We’ve needed a new place for long time,” he said. “I just think it’s very important … there’s a lot of people that still want graves and it’s a shame and there’s a state law that says we should provide graves.”
He also encouraged commissioners to use their authority to vote to convert some streets in the cemetery to grave space while they let the expansion process play out. Falsacca backed Gould, and added that he could probably create an excess of 50 additional graves should certain streets in the cemetery be torn up.
