Barry Trutor is active in the statewide Vermont Old Cemetery Association and has been working to preserve cemeteries statewide for many years. He currently serves on the Burlington Cemetery Commission, in his words "participating in government, learning, leaving the cemeteries in better condition than when I arrived."

At a recent Cemetery Commission meeting Mr. Trutor found out that there is a resolution before the City Council to abolish the Cemetery Commission and to have cemeteries be treated as parks. The Director of Parks and Recreation, Jesse Bridges, stated that the reasons behind the proposed resolution are the question of efficiencies.

Mr. Trutor would like you to be aware that: "Cemetery Commission costs the City $0 per annum.
Efficiencies? Cemeteries are not parks. Cemeteries are cemeteries. Cemeteries are by culture, by religion, by use, by individual contract with thousands of lot holders, and by 200 hundred years of state law, that which they are. Cemeteries.
During those 200 years, the 246 towns in Vermont have elected or appointed 3 to 5 citizens to serve as Cemetery Commissioners. These citizens have diligently maintained, protected and preserved these most precious of our treasures. In 2015, Burlington is proposing to abandon that experience in favor of “efficiencies”.
Efficiencies? Boards and commissions are impediments to a bureaucrat's plan. Eliminate the citizen participation, eliminate the impediment."

If you strongly feel that the Cemetery Commission should continue to exist, please make your voice be heard by the elected city officials. If you would like to contact Barry Trutor, Cemetery Commissioner, please email him at:
btrutor@burlingtontelecom.net