The town’s Memorials Advisory Committee, which has been unable to take any votes for a year because it lacked a quorum, will finally be able to do so again.
The Select Board Tuesday appointed three new members to the five-member committee: Alice Baker, Jeanette Kelley, and Jennifer MacIver Edwards.
The lack of a working Memorials Advisory Committee contributed to David Berkeley’s harrowing quest to set up memorial benches in honor of his late sons, Brent and Matthew. He alleged that town officials lied to him about the process for seeking approval of a memorial.
Brent Berkeley, 41, was shot and killed after a minor traffic accident in the Middle Street parking lot downtown last year. (David Jerome, 23, is charged with his murder and awaiting trial.) Matthew Berkeley, 31, took his own life 15 years earlier.
The Select Board, in the absence of a functioning Memorials Advisory Committee, intervened to grant Berkeley’s request on Nov. 18. But it did so without comment from board members or the public by tucking it into the administrative notes section of the agenda.
Select Board Chair David Golden defended the decision to bypass a process that others had been required to follow. He said he did not want Berkeley to have to wait any longer, explaining that it will take some time for the reconstituted committee to consider applications as its new members learn the policy governing what constitutes a valid application.
The town’s memorials policy states, in part, that “honorees must have a record of service to the community. No application for a memorial will be reviewed unless the honoree has been deceased for a minimum of one year.” Honorees must have “served” the greater good in a way “marked by valor, dedication to the development of the town, or self-sacrifice for the betterment of Plymouth.”
Golden said he would ask the committee to make recommendations to the Select Board on possible changes to the policy.
Select Board member Kevin Canty said the memorials advisors are necessary because the Select Board does not have the time to carefully consider applications.
“Being able to delegate this process, which can be involved in and of itself, to this committee is intended to free the Select Board up to focus more of its time on its core mission, being the strategic planning functions of the town,” he said.
Golden agreed.
“To have an independent group take the first crack at evaluating the merit of an application has value for both the applicants and the town,” he said, adding that when he chaired the Memorials Advisory Committee, he worked with applicants to refine their proposal if he thought an application was viable but not ready for presentation to the committee.
Baker, who is retired, chairs the Manomet Village Steering Committee. She told the board that she was inspired to apply by the experience of successfully helping the family of Paul Asiaf, a retired Plymouth firefighter, set up a memorial in his name.
“That’s where I took the initiative to say you know, this is something that I would also like to do,” Baker said.
In 2024, the Select Board, on recommendation from the Memorials Advisory Committee, approved a bench in honor of Asiaf at the end of Asiaf Way in Manomet.
The board voted 3-2 to appoint Baker to a three-year term on the committee.
Kelley, also retired, is a Town Meeting member and chair of precinct 14. By a vote of 3-2, the board appointed her to a two-year term.
MacIver Edwards is a co-founder of the Community Art Collective, a nonprofit that helps communities use art to heal. By a vote of 3-2, the board appointed her to a one-year term.
Select Board member Bill Keohan said he would like to increase the number of people on the committee from five to seven.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.