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10 Minutes of the <br />A: Lexington Ad Hoc Crematory Study Meeting <br />February 6, 2019 <br />Location and Time: 201 Bedford Street; 2nd Floor Training Room; 7:00 P.M. <br />Members Present: Judith Crocker, Sara Iverson, Bridger McGaw, George Burnell (EDAC), <br />John Flynn (Board of Health) <br />Members Absent: Narain Bhatia, Msgr. Paul Garrity (LICA) <br />Others Present: Sanjay Padaki (Appropriation liaison), Sandy Beebee (Capital <br />Expenditures liaison), Douglas Lucente (Chair, and Board of Selectmen liaison), David <br />Pinsonneault (DPW liaison), Carolyn Kosnoff, John Himmel (Permanent Building <br />Committee) <br />Documents Presented: <br />Most documents discussed Ad Hoc Crematory Study committee meetings can be found on this <br />shared google drive: <br />httas://drive.aooale.com/drive/folders/lGabEsOCazhUb YXXoxKaa6if0tYdU5FW?usa=sharina <br />Additionally the committee discussed the draft presentation for the February 7th Ad Hoc Crematory <br />Public Hearing and Dinesh Patel's presentation to the Board of Selectmen from February 4, 2019. <br />Mr. Lucente called the meeting to order at 7:08pm. The committee unanimously approved the <br />minutes from the December 20th, 2018 and January 9th, 2019 meetings. <br />Mr. Lucente reviewed the draft slides he intended to present during the Ad Hoc Crematory Public <br />Hearing on February 7th. The committee decided which statistics would best illustrate cremation <br />trends, funeral practices amongst different faiths, the cost difference between burials and <br />cremations, death rates in Lexington, and the capacity at Westview Cemetery. In addition, the <br />group added a slide to show crematorium competitors in Massachusetts. The group decided on the <br />questions to ask audience members and finalized the format for the hearing. <br />Mr. Himmel presented his concern that if the committee were to recommend building crematory that <br />was attached to the Westview Cemetery maintenance building, it would interfere with that Westview <br />Cemetery Building's project timeline. The architect is on track to complete design development at <br />the end of February and the Department of Public Works will be requesting construction funds at <br />2019 ATM, with hopes to open the bidding process in May. Mr. Himmel suggested that one solution <br />could be for the architect on the Westview Cemetery project to undertake a second design <br />development to change the current design to accommodate a crematory addition at a later date <br />while also preparing construction documents on the current design. He expressed concerns that <br />another funding source would be necessary cover this additional design work. <br />Several members were concerned that a separate crematorium would make less financial sense <br />than one attached to the maintenance facility. Mr. McGaw expressed that if the current architectural <br />design could be made more efficient, additional design funds would be freed up to prepare for a <br />crematory addition. Mr. Pinsonneault cited that there had been a cost estimate of $200,000 to bring <br />a gas line to the Westview Cemetery maintenance building but this part of the project was <br />eliminated to reduce costs. <br />The group settled on a set of assumptions to use for the financial analysis part of the Crematory <br />study. This included an attached crematorium with one retort and a viewing area that could <br />Page 1 of 2 <br />