This body was formally established as a "quality improvement team" by executive order of Mayor Marc H. Morial on March 20, 1996 (MHM96-006). Evidence in the records suggests that members of the formal task force were working on the problem as early as mid-1995. The executive order called for the group to identify and investigate issues relating to city-owned cemeteries and to discuss and develop short and long range plans to address such issues. The eleven-person task force was chaired by Henry A. Dillon III and was assisted by a staff of eight city agency representatives. After a series of formal meetings during the period from April through August, the task force issued its final report on August 30, 1996.

The records include minutes of task force meetings, correspondence, draft reports, and other material collected and/or compiled by task force members and staff. The meeting folders generally include the final typewritten minutes of each meeting along with related materials including notes. In addition to the meeting folders there is also a binder containing photocopies of all or most of the materials included in the folders themselves. Sound recordings of the meetings are also included in these records.

The photographs are small prints showing scenes in several of the city-owned cemeteries. Individual photos are not identified as to location, date, or photographer. The file marked "Original Project Folder" contains materials on the nature of the problem and the origins of the task force, including notes from meetings in 1995.

Box 1

• Boston Experience: a manual for historic burying grounds preservation (1988)
• Budget Subcommittee
• Budget Subcommittee, Minutes of Meetings
• Discussion Calendar
• Executive Order
• Legal
• Meeting Folders [2/6 & 22; 3/19; 4/9 & 16; 5/7 & 21; 6/4 & 25; 7/2 & 30; 8/6, 13, & 27]
• Meeting Notices
• Memorandums
• Miscellaneous
• "Original Project Folder"
• Personnel Subcommittee
• Photographs
• Report and information on the cemeteries, compiled by the Dept. of Property Management and provided to the Task Force [aka the "Blue Book," since it was reproduced and bound in plain, blue paper with no cover title]
• Report, Drafts (4 folders)
• Report, Final
• Request for Opinion
• Review & recommendations for Holt Cemetery: preliminary study and findings [prepared for the Dept. of Cemeteries by H. Hershberg & Associates, 1986]
• Subcommittee Meetings Schedule

• Sound Recordings
  • Meetings [2/22 (also 3/19); 4/9 & 16; 5/7 & 21; 6/4 & 25; 7/2 & 30; 8/6, 8, 13, 20 & 27]
  • Meeting, Undated

11/7/1996, wme