STRONG — Selectmen are asking for residents’ help to comply with a new state law requiring towns to maintain veterans’ graves, whether in public or private cemeteries.

Gov. Paul LePage signed An Act to Clarify the Laws Governing the Maintenance of Veterans’ Graves on April 6, and it became law Aug. 1.

The law requires municipalities to trim the grass around the graves, remove grass and debris from flat grave markers, and remove fallen trees, branches, vines and weeds from burial sites.

Selectman Joan Reed had volunteered to research locations of cemeteries and veterans’ graves because the town does not have a cemetery committee.

Annually, selectmen have hired a contractor for the general care of all cemeteries, but only Village Cemetery on Lambert Hill is considered a town property, she said at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The new law will require selectmen to incorporate standards of oversight, and trust fund money can not be used to maintain private cemeteries, she said.

Taxpayers are only obligated to pay to maintain the veterans’ graves, and private property owners may choose to care for other stones and markers.

Strong officials will be required to set standards for care of veterans’ graves in private cemeteries and act as overseers to determine those specific graves are being cared for properly.

“I have spoken to (the Maine Municipal Association) and have been informed of the legality of spending the town’s cemetery trust money on any other cemetery besides the Village Cemetery,” she said.

Voters at the March 2015 town meeting can decide how to allocate funds for maintenance of these particular grave sites and write the standards “in collaboration with veterans’ organizations, cemetery associations, civic and fraternal organizations and other interested persons,” according to the law’s wording.

Selectmen hoped to use cemetery trust fund income for some of the repairs, including tree removal and work needed at the Taylor Hill cemetery. Since trust fund money can’t be allocated for such private cemetery work, voters will have to decide whether they want to pay for the work.

“I would like to suggest a committee for both the municipal and the private cemeteries in Strong,”  Reed told selectmen.

She said she believes residents would be willing to help if they knew more about the problem. Private burial grounds and cemeteries she listed include Town Line, Village, Taylor Hill, Conant, White Memorial, Cunningham-Cates, Hunter, Pierpole, Toothaker Hill and Stevens. The White Memorial, she suggested, was not a town plot and was the responsibility of the Porter Lake Association.

In other news, selectmen continued the effort to reduce streetlight costs. Selectmen Milt Baston and Mike Carleton reported they noted the location of 53 poles in town. Bulbs ranged from 50 to 250 watts and Baston said he would contact Central Maine Power to ask if higher wattage bulbs could be replaced to save money. He and Carleton will continue to develop a list of possible lights to discontinue, as requested by voters at the March 2014 town meeting.