The Woolwich Board of Selectmen may have been shorthanded on Monday night, but there was no lack of issues to discuss.

Chairman David King read a draft letter that will be sent to each cemetery association, if voters approve the cemetery stipend at town meeting. The selectmen propose to offer each association $20 in town assistance per veteran’s grave. Associations who accept the stipend will be asked to provide a list of veterans and a general accounting of how the money was spent.

King said some large associations have indicated they are not interested in town assistance or involvement in cemetery maintenance. He said he envisioned any funds not used in a fiscal year would be rolled over for grave maintenance in future years.

Chet Grover, President Bailey Cemetery, asked whether the stipend amount could be revisited in the future, and whether acceptance of town money absolved the town of its responsibility for veterans’ graves. Town Manager Lynette Eastman said the law was clear that responsibility was shared by towns, associations and veterans’ organization. Grover also raised the concern that the potentially high cost of maintaining headstones could bankrupt associations.

Selectman Jason Shaw acknowledged this was a new unfunded mandate for the town and said the board was trying to phase into it.

“After the season’s over and before town budgeting, we will have a meeting with all the associations again to see where we are going with this next year,” Shaw said.

EMS report

EMS Director Bill Longley provided selectmen with his regular update on emergency response in Woolwich. Longley also provided the board with the 2013 Maine EMS annual report. Longley said there were 12 calls since his last report, Woolwich EMS responded to 11 of them, and Longley to 10.

“We had one no response in the middle of the day at the town office,” Longley said, “North East eventually showed up, 30 minutes after the call was dispatched.”

Longley handed out a page from the 2013 EMS report, “I want you to see that the majority of calls in the state are at or quicker than North East’s 17 minute average,” he said.

For calls where response time is known, the EMS report shows an average response time statewide of 6:14 minutes, with 61 percent responding within five minutes and 85 percent within 10 minutes.

Other business

Gloria Brawn said she was working with the American Legion to install American flags on alternating telephone poles from the Dairy Queen to Taste of Maine from Memorial Day to October. Brawn said she was seeking permission from Central Maine Power, but needed the town’s approval, as well. The board approved.

Contracts with the low bidders for cleaning and mowing were signed, and the board agreed to accept the low bid for a sprinkler system compressor, pending a reference check.

The board took no action on a proposed replacement of a troublesome toilet at the town office for $350.