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.