Billerica Cemetery Commission advances kiosk, headstone repairs, and chapel planning

BILLERICA -- July 23, 2025, Billerica Cemetery Commission advances digital kiosk project, headstone restoration plan, and early chapel talks at its July 23 meeting. Chairman Pete Blaisdell and Deputy Director Fred Russell led discussions on a grave-records verification effort underway in the field, where worker Ben Grant is auditing plot by plot to ensure the commission's database matches physical headstones, a prerequisite for a public interactive kiosk that would let weekend visitors locate graves without staff assistance. The commission also explored a prison-labor workshop model to repair broken and fallen stones at a fraction of the roughly $50,000 quoted by a professional preservation firm, and received a request from the family of a recently deceased chief to move a long-discussed cemetery chapel, envisioned at roughly 40 seats and modeled on a Chelsea example, toward a Town Meeting appropriation. An unresolved billing matter involving an unpaid cremation fee from a Texas family, with no address on file and no response to calls, prompted informal discussion of requiring advance payment; current weekday fees run $450 for cremation and $875 for a full-casket burial.