CHAPEL HILL -- After a number of complaints about maintenance, the Town of Chapel Hill plans to create an advisory board for its four cemeteries this fall.

The decision follows a request made by Steven Moore, a citizen member of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery task force, last fall to establish a single committee.

The town has four cemeteries: the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery next to the UNC campus between South Road and Paul Green Theater Drive, Memorial Cemetery between Fordham Boulevard and Legion Road, Barbee-Hargraves Cemetery at the end of Greenwood Road and West Chapel Hill Cemetery between Village Drive, Jay Street and Southern Railroad.

"Cemeteries are very special places that are important to communities," said Butch Kisiah, the town's parks and recreation director. "People who have families buried in one of our cemeteries deserve to have them in the best condition possible."

Oversight of the cemeteries has been moved from the public works department to the parks and recreation department, in part to emphasize landscaping. In the past, visitors have complained about unkempt grass.

Kisiah said the advisory board will make sure regular maintenance respects visitors.

"We've had 10 guys cutting grass before when a funeral procession comes in," he said. "That's just bad timing, and then our guys stop working and leave, so that grass goes uncut."

Kisiah added that the cemeteries are running out of room, and the new board will also determine the best way of selling future plots.

The town is currently soliciting applications for the board, which will have between five and seven members.

Interested residents should fill out an application at the town Web site at www.ci.chapelhill.nc.us/index.asp?nid=178.