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Minutes of the
Lexington Ad Hoc Crematory Study Public Meeting
February 7, 2018
Location and Time: Cary Hall; 7:30 P.M.
Members Present: Narain Bhatia, Judith Crocker, Sara Iverson, Bridger McGaw,
George Burnell (EDAC), John Flynn (Board of Health),
Member Absent: Msgr. Paul Garrity (LICA)
Others Present: Sanjay Padaki (Appropriation liaison), Sandy Beebee
(Capital Expenditures liaison), Douglas Lucente (Chair, and Board of
Selectmen liaison), David Pinsonneault (DPW liaison), Carolyn Kosnoff
(Finance liaison)
MINUTES:
The meeting was called to order by Doug Lucente at 7:04pm
All Committee Members, Liaisons, and Advisors were in attendance save for Msgr.
Paul Garrity.
Mr. Lucente recommended the 22 audience members silence phones and introduced
the members of the Committee and the advisory members and liaison members
from Appropriations, Capital Expenditures, DPW and Assistant Town Manager.
The Question we hoped to gather feedback is on the two questions on slide 2:
1. Do we need a crematory in Lexington to address our community needs?
2. Tell us about your needs and desires for a crematory and spiritual viewing
area.
Mr. Lucente proceeded to present the information provided in the powerpoint
presentation. (see attachment).
In 2015, the inflection point is shown by the National Funeral Directors association
showing that more cremations are likely in the future vs burials.
Mr. Lucente reviewed the formal charge from the Board of Selectmen (Slide 8) and
laid out the information related to specific rules, regulations, and laws in
Massachusetts around use and management of crematories along with the specific
areas of recommendation around building options, needs in Lexington, operational
feasibility, and any environmental health concerns. (Slide 9)
Mr. Lucente shared with the meeting attendees the three options the Board has
asked the Ad Hoc Committee to evaluate (Slide 10) and followed it with a brief
history of the Westview Cemetery Maintenance building project.
Mr. Lucente detailed our next steps following the public hearing and future
research, analysis, and discussion among the Committee members.
Mr. Lucente detailed a number of specific facts around various religions to provide
illustrative examples of what their opinions were around burial and cremation.
These were not an exhaustive list, but a list meant to be general recognition of the
use of cremation across various faiths. He also laid out general questions around
our town's cemetery, death rates, and the number of burial/cremations.
Crematories are only allowed in cemeteries in Massachusetts vs. 45 other states that
allow it in funeral homes or other locations, not just a cemetery.
Mr. Lucente showed the current crematories in Massachusetts and recognition that
most are east and south of Westview. Following the map, he opened up the floor to
comments.
COMMENTS:
Resident, TMM Precinct 7
Q: My concerns are around the smoke from the crematory?
A: The crematory is regulated by the DEP and MDPH - but the furnaces used are
high heat, but the regulations around the filtering of the retort are substantially
lower. As long as we are maintaining a retort to specific air quality, there is very
little if at all visible smoke.
Follow-up Q: Have you seen a cremation? Have you seen smoke?
Mr. Padaki: I have seen a cremation - and you don't see / smell smoke at the site.
Mr. Lucente recounted his visit to Duxbury and in his recollection did not see smoke
or any smell of smoke.
Follow-up Comment: I am concerned about the close neighbors and what, if any
impact, it may have on neighbors. Thank you.
Dinesh Patel, Precinct 6, Town Meeting Member
Mr. Patel shared information from his research and Board of Selectmen presentation
that laid out the low environmental impact of cremation from air quality as well as
chemical impact such as mercury.
Bob Creech, (submitted in writing to Mr. Lucente)
2 Grimes Road, TMM Precinct 7
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"From: Bob Creech, 2 Grimes Rd, TMM Pct 7
February 5, 2019
Crematory Study for Lexington
1) Cremation is alive and well in many countries and is by far more practical
than burial
2) My wife and I will use a crematory service when the time comes but we
should be sensitive to the fact that many people will not choose cremation
a. They may object to the practice in general
b. They certainly should not subsidize this service in any way
3) Essential criteria for me
a. The Lexington service should be competitively priced for all and
perhaps a good deal for Lexington residents
b. The service should be geared toward intimate gatherings for the
immediate family and not geared toward large numbers of people
i. Memorial services for large numbers of people should be held
in existing venues which are already set up to accommodate
large numbers of people
c. The service must turn a profit
i. Eventually cover the construction costs
ii. Provide for all on-going and future maintenance
iii. Cover all staff costs
d. It must not be a resident subsidized service
i. People who do not want or will not use the service should not
pay for it in any way
1. This is not comparable to other Town services like
schools, plowing, street maintenance etc.
ii. I have no interest in paying for the funerals of others and I do
not want others to pay for my funeral
4) Non-essential that I would like to see
a. The possibility for the family to bring in wine and cheese or coffee and
cake, etc., for a small celebration of life
i. The family does the clean-up work and takes away what they
bring in
b. The family should be able to stay for, say, 2 hours
Summary
If the Essential criteria are not met, I will not support this project In any case, I am
glad that Mr. Bhatia had the courage to bring this up and that the Select Board took
this possibility seriously."
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Dinesh Patel, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 6
1. Cremation fraud has happened and we need to be mindful of this risk.
2. Objective of Diversity Task Force was to do 3 things:
a. Embrace the ethnic diversity of community
b. Foster Civic Engagement of all residents and mutual respect
c. Ensure equitable access to resources for all
d. Promote certain events and activities that will advance
Sata Chandra, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 8
Comment: I have seen both cremations here in US as well as burials. I never saw any
smoke or any smells. Q: Does the Committee have any financial numbers for costs,
operations impact on the town operational budget?
A: Mr. Lucente detailed our data is still not ready to be widely shared.
Comment: I have other questions question about more detail around the viewing
needs of the process.
Q: I support the initiative and want to see the financials before I support it.
There were no more questions or comments at this time.
Mr. Lucente recognized Dr. Patel again.
Dinesh Patel, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 6
Comment: I thought we should do a joint project with the Westview Building
because we have the opportunity to be efficient with our investment. If the demand
is going up and we can save money by doing these projects together - we should be
realistic about that and explore the opportunity.
Anil Ahuja, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 5
Q: Do we have any idea of what the demand will be from our neighboring towns?
A: We do not have final data. We know 307 people annually die on average in
Lexington.
Marion Kumar, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 3
I couldn't leave without registering my strong support for this. This is more to be
uncovered and what does the community feel about this. This town is economically
diverse and timing for investment should be considered. But, I would second Dr.
Patel for the planning and investment in the existing planned Westview building is
timely.
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Carolyn and Sanjay departed for their scheduled Appropriations Meeting.
Committee Member Narain Bhatia provided some comments.
When the death takes place, the Hindu death is an emotional experience. They will
fly in from all over for the services. They want to be with the family - when the body
is being prepared for cremation they all want to be viewing it. 20-30 people to view
the pressing of the button and releasing of the soul. If they do not do this, the soul is
attached to earth and not released. Most of the people who are younger, but the
older do. The circle of the map shows that many crematories are more than 45
minutes from Lexington. Not everyone comes to the building but the small group
very much wants to be there at the retort. This is a quality of life issue.
Dinesh Patel, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 6
Continued about the lower environmental impact on the world by pursuing
cremation with less chemical use. Less Land is use for the interment of the dead.
Deepika Sawhney, School Committee Member, Precinct 6
I had heard that the price tag would be $500K or less. I do not know what revenue is
for this. But perhaps that $500K could be recouped by the town since more are
choosing it for the cost and environmental impact. I hope that we as a town can look
to invest in that. Mr. Lucente detailed that we do not have operational costs detailed
at this point.
Mr. Lucente noted that no one else wanted to make comments. He requested that
any additional comments be provided in writing through the Selectmen's office.
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