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7-5-1: - City cemetery#
The burial grounds of the city shall be known and designated by the names of the Honeyville cemetery and the Call's Fort cemetery.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code § 8-202 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-2: - Definitions#
The following words or phrases shall have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise clearly requires:
LOT: The partial lots or single graves in the city cemetery.
LOT OWNER OR PURCHASER AND GRAVE OWNER OR PURCHASER: The owner or purchaser of burial privileges or the collateral right of use of any burial lot evidenced by a deed or burial right for a described lot or by proved and recognized descent or devise from the original owner.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code § 8-201 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-3: - Applicability#
All cemeteries owned and/or maintained by the city or which may hereafter be acquired by the city wherever situated are hereby declared subject to the provisions of this chapter.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code § 8-203 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-4: - Cemetery superintendent#
A.
Created: There is hereby created the position of cemetery superintendent. (1976 Code § 8-211)
B.
Duties: The cemetery superintendent shall have the general supervision and administration of the city cemetery, including, but not limited to:
1.
Recommending to the city council such additional rules and regulations as may be necessary for the operation, maintenance, use and protection of the cemetery.
2.
Subdividing the cemetery into lots and grave sites.
3.
Maintaining a record of the location of the graves and preventing any lot from being used beyond its capacity.
4.
Keeping in proper repair the enclosure around the cemetery and preventing its being entered by animals and, so far as practical, preventing the destruction or defacing of any tablet or marker placed or erected therein.
5.
Keeping a duplicate plat of the cemetery and, at the request of any person wishing to purchase any of the lots or parts of lots, pointing out any of the lots or parts of lots for sale; and upon disposal of any lots or part thereof, notifying the city recorder of such fact. The city recorder shall, after payment of the lot price has been received in the treasury, issue a certificate of burial rights which shall describe the lot or grave to which the right to burial is granted. The certificate shall be signed by the mayor and the city recorder.
6.
Opening any graves in the cemetery upon application to him being made by the city recorder or by any person having the right to make such application and being responsible for closing all graves.
7.
Removing floral pieces or displays left on any grave as deemed necessary to the appearance of the cemetery, but such floral pieces or displays shall not be removed sooner than five (5) days after original placement, except in emergency.
8.
Keeping the streets, alleys, walks and avenues in the cemetery in good order and unobstructed.
9.
Erecting a suitable marker firmly set upon the northwest corner of each lot with the number of the lot inscribed thereon and which location shall be shown on the cemetery records.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code § 8-211, 8-212 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-5: - Burials#
A.
Permits Required:
1.
Before any deceased person is buried in the city cemetery, a permit properly issued by the registrar of the registration district in which the death occurred or, in the absence of such registrar, a permit duly issued by the State Division of Health or other authorized person shall be required by the cemetery superintendent. After burial, the cemetery superintendent shall endorse upon the permit a description of the location where the deceased is buried and shall enter all of the information contained in the permit in the cemetery records.
2.
It shall be unlawful for any person to bury the body of a deceased person in the city cemetery without first obtaining a certificate of burial right for the lot used or producing satisfactory evidence of a right to burial based on a properly acquired certificate of burial right.
B.
Registration: Before any deceased person may be buried in the city cemetery, the relatives or person having charge of the deceased shall provide the city recorder with a written statement which shall be filed by the city recorder, which statement shall contain, if known, information about the deceased regarding his or her name, when and where born, the date and cause of death, the name of the attending physician, date of burial, name of cemetery and the description of the location of the grave.
C.
Unlawful Acts:
1.
It is an infraction, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to:
a.
Disinter any body buried in any cemetery, except under the direction of the cemetery superintendent who shall, before disinterment, require written permission from both the health officer and the owner of the lot or his or her heirs, which written authorization shall be filed and preserved in a record kept for such purposes.
b.
Disinter or remove the body of a person who has died from a contagious disease within two (2) years after the date of burial, unless the body was buried in a hermetically-sealed casket or vault and is found to be so incased at the time of disinterment.
2.
It is an infraction, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, to inter anything other than the remains of human bodies in cemeteries.
3.
It is an infraction, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, to bury the body of any person within the city, except in the city cemetery or a private cemetery, unless by special permission of the city council under such rules and regulations that it may prescribe.
D.
Vaults Required:
1.
Unless in writing waived by the cemetery superintendent, it shall be unlawful for any person to be buried in the cemetery unless the casket shall be placed in a vault made of concrete, fiberglass, steel or brick-lined or of such other material approved by the city council, substantially constructed and covered with a similar durable material.
2.
No wood shall be used as a permanent part of the construction of any part of the vault.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-221, 8-222, 8-223, 8-224, 8-225 on 1/1/1976; Amended by Ord. 2001 Code on 1/1/2001)
7-5-6: - Fees and charges#
A.
Established; Authority: The city council shall, from time to time by resolution, fix the size of lots, the price at which burial rights shall be sold and the fees which shall be charged for the various cemetery services to be provided; and all burial fees and sale of burial plots for residents and nonresidents, will be as set by resolution.
B.
Collection: The city recorder, and such other persons as the city council may designate, are hereby authorized and required to collect in advance, prices and fees for the opening and closing of graves or other services which shall include, but not be limited to, properly disinterring bodies and properly restoring the earth and grounds, recording each burial, disinterment or removal and raised monument privileges. The fees shall be such amounts as are determined by the city council from time to time by resolution.
C.
Opening Graves:
1.
No grave shall be opened in the city cemetery until payment of a fee for the labor and expense in so opening the grave shall be paid.
2.
The presentation of a receipt from the city recorder or person designated by the city council when presented to the cemetery superintendent, shall be authority to open a grave for the burial of a deceased person. However, upon a contract being entered into between any mortician and the city wherein the mortician agrees to be responsible and liable for fees for the opening of a grave, and wherein that mortician will be personally liable for such fees and for perpetual care payments, the city recorder or authorized person may give the cemetery superintendent authority to open graves without the presentation of a receipt from the city recorder or authorized person.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-241, 8-242, 8-243 on 1/1/1976; Amended by Ord. 2001 Code on 1/1/2001)
7-5-7: - Lot sales#
A.
Authority; Records: The city recorder, and such other person as the city council may designate, are hereby authorized to sell the use of lots in the city cemetery for burial purposes only and to collect all sums arising from the sale. The city recorder shall keep a complete record of all sales, which record shall describe the location of the lot purchased and the price paid therefor. The city recorder or designated person shall deliver to each purchaser a certificate of burial rights for each lot purchased, which certificate shall, among other things, describe the location of the lot, the purchase price and the type of maintenance services which are to be provided, e.g., perpetual care.
B.
Purchase Price, Scope Of: A certificate and right to burial shall be exempt from execution, taxation or assessment for care and maintenance from and after full payment of the purchase price. Payments made pursuant to this section shall not be construed to be in payment for cemetery services other than perpetual care.
C.
Perpetual Care Included: Perpetual care shall be deemed to include the filling of the grave, the placing of topsoil upon the grave, seeding the grave with grass and watering and cutting the grass. No other services are included.
D.
Additional Improvements, Changes and Services: No other improvements, changes or services, except perpetual care, shall be made on any lot without the certificate holder or his heirs first submitting to and receiving from the cemetery superintendent written approval for such improvements, changes or services, which improvements, changes or services shall be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated by the city council.
E.
Resale Restrictions:
1.
From and after July 24, 1976, the lots sold by the city shall not be further sold, transferred, conveyed or assigned to any person except the city. The city hereby agrees to buy back any city cemetery grave lot which it may hereafter sell. The repurchase of such lots shall be for the original price paid by the purchaser or the current selling price of the lot, whichever is less.
2.
Whenever a certificate to burial rights or lots reverts to the city, as provided for in this subsection, or becomes vested in the city for any reason, before new certificates are issued, the original certificate shall be cancelled or an assignment given and the record shall be so changed.
3.
The certificates shall be issued and signed by the mayor and shall be attested by the city recorder. All lots or parts of lots, as provided in this subsection, together with all improvements, shall be exempt from execution and from taxation and assessment for care and maintenance charges from and after said payment.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-251, 8-252 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-8: - Perpetual care lots#
A.
Scope of Care: The essential perpetual care that the city agrees to give shall consist of care of the cemetery generally, and shall include, but is not limited to, mowing of all lots and graves at reasonable intervals, resodding, seeding and filling in sunken graves, sodding the surface of the graves to lot level, removing dead flowers and trimming trees and shrubbery when necessary, raking and cleaning the lots and straightening of tilting stones or markers, but shall not include repairing or replacing markers or memorial structures of any nature, except when the need for repair or replacement is directly caused by the city.
B.
Contracting for Care:
1.
No grave shall be hereafter opened in the cemetery of this city until perpetual care upon the lot where the grave is to be opened shall have been contracted for with the city, or perpetual care thereon paid. Should it be the desire of any person to have a grave opened and the body interred therein and perpetual care shall not have been previously contracted for or paid in full for the lot therein, the person may either pay the full purchase price for perpetual care or enter into a contract wherein payment shall be agreed.
2.
The agreement shall provide for a down payment in the amount of twenty percent (20%) of the total purchase price of the cost of the lot, and shall further provide for the payment of monthly installments over a period not to exceed twenty (20) months. The monthly installments shall be in the amounts equal to the balance of the contract divided by the number of months which the contract is to run, plus two (2) months extra payment to pay for the privilege of making the payments in installments or six percent (6%) of the balance, whichever is less.
3.
The installment contract for perpetual care of, or purchase of a lot with perpetual care, shall provide for collection by the city in event of a default and such collection shall be by civil action, and the defendant therein shall pay cost of collection, together with reasonable attorney fees to the city, and shall also pay interest at the rate of eight percent (8%) per annum upon the past due installments. All installments shall immediately become due upon the default of any of the installments; provided, however, that when perpetual care for any lot in the city cemetery or portion thereof, has not been paid for a period of ten (10) years, then, and in such an event, the unused portion of the lot shall thereafter escheat to the city, and the title thereof shall revert to the city, which shall thereafter have the right, option and privilege to sell and dispose of unused cemetery property, as is in this chapter provided, upon condition that the city shall thereafter maintain perpetually without cost of fee the portion of the lot occupied by a grave or graves prior to the date when the remaining property escheated to the city.
4.
The city shall have the power to fix, by resolution, a fee from any person now owning a cemetery lot or portion thereof for the annual maintenance and care thereof. The fee shall continue to be paid until such time as a further or additional interment shall be made on the lot, at which time the provisions of this subsection relating to perpetual care and maintenance and to payment of fees and costs pertaining thereto shall take effect and apply.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-261, 8-262 on 1/1/1976; Amended by Ord. 2001 Code on 1/1/2001)
7-5-9: - Nonperpetual care lots#
A.
Maintenance Charges:
1.
Every lot for which perpetual care has not been purchased and with reference to which the owner has established a right to directly provide for maintenance and care, notwithstanding the provisions of section 7-5-12 of this chapter, shall be maintained and cared for to the extent and in accordance with the standards established by the city council for care and maintenance of all lots of the cemetery.
2.
In the event that the owner fails to provide the requisite care and maintenance for nonperpetual care lots, the cemetery superintendent shall furnish care and maintenance at rates established by the city council.
3.
All such charges shall become a personal liability of the owner of the lots and, in addition thereto, shall constitute a lien against the lots upon the basis of which the city council may cause the burial rights therein to be forfeited and said rights to revert to the city.
B.
Reversion of Nonpaying Lots:
1.
When any owner of any lot or portion of a lot in the cemetery shall have failed to pay the cost of services rendered by the city or its employees in watering, beautifying, maintaining or caring for any lots or portions thereof in the city cemetery for which perpetual care has not been purchased in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, and such failure to pay has continued for a period of six (6) months, the city may pursue collection of such costs in a court of law. A court action may be pursued for the purpose of seeking judgment against the owner and thereafter attaching any of the assets of the owner, including an attachment of the lots or portions of lots upon which the owner has failed to make payment for maintenance service.
2.
As an additional remedy, or in lieu of seeking collection in a court of law, the city may cancel the owner's certificate or deed representing rights to burial on the unoccupied lots or portions of lots and causing ownership of lots or portions thereof to revert back to the city by following the procedure set forth in this section.
C.
Procedure for Reversion Back to City:
1.
The city may terminate the owner's right to use of unoccupied lot or lots in the city cemetery when there has been a six (6) month failure to pay the costs of maintenance provided by the city in the following manner:
a.
The city council shall fix a time and place of hearing before the city council at which the owner shall be given the opportunity to present good cause as to why his right to future use of the lot or lots involved shall not be terminated and as to why the ownership of the lot or portions of lot shall not revert back to the city for resale by it.
b.
A notice of the time, place and purpose of the hearing to forfeit the owner's interest in the lot or parts of the lot shall be given by personal delivery of a written notice of the time, place and purpose of the meeting of the city council or by mailing a copy of the notice to the last known address of the owner or owners.
c.
In the absence of an ability to make personal delivery of the written notice to the owner or owners, a notice of the hearing to forfeit rights to said lot or portions of lot shall be published at least once in a newspaper having general circulation in the county. The publication shall be made at least three (3) weeks prior to the date of the hearing.
d.
If the owner is known to be deceased, then mailing of notice or delivery of notice shall be made to the last known addresses of any known heirs.
e.
Copies of the notice shall also be posted in a conspicuous place in the offices of the city.
f.
At the time and place set for the hearing before the city council, the city council shall give the owner or owners an opportunity to be heard, a right to present witnesses and to submit evidence showing cause why the lot or portions of the lot shall not be forfeited to the city.
2.
After due consideration of all the facts presented at such hearing, the city council may order, if it finds that there has been a failure to make payment of such costs or if no satisfactory arrangement has been preferred for making the immediate payment of such costs, that the lot or portions of lot shall revert to the city for resale and that all of the rights and privileges of the owner in the lot or lots are terminated.
3.
Thereafter, the city may make sale of the lots in the same manner as it makes sales of all other lots within the cemetery.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-281, 8-282, 8-283 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-10: - Indigents#
A.
The city council may by resolution designate a portion of the city cemetery to the burial of indigents. Whenever it is made to appear to the mayor by proof submitted to him by the city recorder that any person who has died does not have an estate sufficient to pay the purchase price of a lot in the cemetery, and that the nearest relative or representative of such deceased person desires to have the body of such deceased interred in the cemetery, the mayor may grant burial space for such deceased person at the request made to him by the city recorder.
B.
The mayor shall communicate his decision to both the city recorder and the cemetery superintendent. The mayor shall give report of his decision, whether affirmative or negative, to the city council at its next regular meeting. All strangers without funds or other persons who may die in the city may be granted the privilege granted herein.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code § 8-291 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-11: - Rules and regulations#
A.
Authority to Regulate; Procedure:
1.
The city council may promulgate by resolution such additional rules and regulations concerning the care, use, operation and maintenance of the cemetery as it shall deem necessary.
2.
The mayor may, from time to time as the city council deems necessary, direct and publish a booklet of rules and regulations for the convenience of the purchasers of lots in the city cemetery. Such rules and regulations shall constitute a part of the terms and conditions under which owners and users may utilize the cemetery and shall form a supplement to this chapter after they have been adopted as official by resolution of the city council.
3.
Any changes in the rules and regulations shall be adopted by the city council before such changes shall be official.
B.
Lots Sold: Every lot or single grave sold is subject to rules and regulations that have been or may be adopted. The rules and regulations shall be subject to such changes as are found necessary for the protection of lot owners, the remains of the dead and the preservation of the cemetery.
C.
Traffic Control:
1.
The provisions of the city traffic ordinances relative to the operation of vehicles and conduct of pedestrians shall be in effect in the cemetery, except as herein otherwise modified by this chapter.
2.
It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or drive within the city cemetery at a speed greater than five (5) miles per hour.
D.
Children: Children under the age of sixteen (16) years shall not be allowed in cemeteries unless accompanied by their parents or other adults, except for the purposes of attending authorized funerals or, in the company of adults, placing flowers on the grave of a deceased relative or friend, or performing any other customary evidence of respect in accordance with their religious principles.
E.
Animals: No animal shall be allowed in any cemetery, except in the confines of a vehicle and must be at all times retained within the confines of said vehicle while the vehicle remains in the cemetery.
F.
Decorum: Cemetery grounds are sacredly devoted to the interment and repose of the dead. Strict observance of decorum due such a place shall be required of all persons.
G.
Errors in Opening Graves: Under no circumstances will the city assume responsibilities for errors in opening graves when orders are given by telephone.
H.
Religious and Fraternal Organizations: The city may contract with religious and fraternal organizations to designate a reasonable portion of the cemetery in which burials may be restricted to members of such religious and fraternal organizations and their families.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-226, 8-227, 8-229, 8-230, 8-231, 8-232, 8-233, 8-237 on 1/1/1976; Amended by Ord. 2001 Code on 1/1/2001)
7-5-12: - Care and maintenance; right to enter#
The city reserves the right to enter upon any grave and to perform all work necessary for the care and upkeep of all lots and graves in its cemeteries.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code § 8-228 on 1/1/1976)
7-5-13: - Unlawful acts#
A.
Injury to Property:
1.
It is a Class B misdemeanor, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to tie or attempt to tie any horse, animal or motor vehicle to any monument, gravestone, tablet, marker, tree, shrub, fence or enclosure on the premises of the cemetery for the purpose of injuring, defacing or attempting the removal of same.
2.
It shall be an infraction, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to injure, deface, break, destroy or remove any headstone, tombstone, monument, tree, shrub or any other property in the cemetery.
B.
Landscaping by Private Persons: Except as provided by the rules and regulations of the city council, it shall be unlawful for any person to erect or maintain any fence, corner post, coping or boundary of any kind, to plant any vegetation upon any lot or lots, street, alley or walk in the cemetery or to grade the ground or land thereof. The cemetery superintendent shall, whenever required, furnish the true lines of any lots according to official survey, shall prevent and prohibit any markings of the same except by official landmarks, and shall prevent and prohibit any grading thereof that might destroy or interfere with the general slope of the land.
C.
Placement of Markers: It shall be unlawful for any person to erect, place or cause to be placed any marker or monument on any lot in the cemetery in violation of the rules and regulations promulgated by the city council regarding the placement, construction and design of all such markers.
(Adopted by Ord. 1976 Code §§ 8-234, 8-235, 8-236 on 1/1/1976; Amended by Ord. 2001 Code on 1/1/2001)