ADAMS, Mass. — The Bellevue Cemetery garage project is still on course to go out to bid this spring.

 

Cemetery Commissioner Bruce Shepley told his colleagues last Thursday that no progress had been made on the garage  over the winter but they should expect some movement this spring.

 

"The update on the building is that there is no update," he said. 

 

The town will use more than $100,000 from the cemetery fund to overhaul the current structure at the cemetery in the town's south end. A smaller shed will also be purchased to accommodate cold storage.

 

Shepley said the commissioners will be invited to a pre-bid conference.

 

"It is pretty straightforward," he said. "It would be a time for us to ask questions and adjust the monies we plan to spend."

 

The commissioners were also asked if dog feces are as much of an issue at the cemeteries as they are throughout the rest of the town and Shepley said he didn't think so.

 

"Dogs are not allowed there and no one has come forward to me and nothing has been forwarded to me," he said. "I really haven't seen anyone with dogs there."

 

Shepley said he could only recall Selectman James Bush mentioning that he has stepped in dog poop while at Bellevue Cemetery. 

 

The week before, the Board of Health heard from a group of citizens who felt that dog owners not cleaning up after their pets was getting out of hand, specifically on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail and the Greylock Glen.

 

Even the Parks Commission weighed in last week, noting that many of the towns playing fields are littered with dog waste now that the snow's gone. 

 

Shepley suspects the town cemeteries seem to draw more respect from dog walkers. 

 

"I have never heard of dog excrement being an issue in the cemeteries," he said. "Maybe it is just a sacred area."