CEMETERY COMMISSIONERS MEETING OF MAY 2, 2003
PRESENT: Herman E. Hasenjager, Robert E. Pease, Julian E. Szarlan, Paul B. Lovell, John R. Nothe and Gaylin Bingle.
Mr. Hasenjager called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. The minutes of the previous meeting were read by the clerk and accepted with a motion by Mr. Pease and seconded by Mr. Szarlan.
OLD BUSINESS:
Damaged Marker in Hillcrest Cemetery – Mr. Szarlan said he spoke with the woman whose flush marker was damaged during a winter burial by the backhoe. He explained to her that nothing can be done about it and that this happens. The woman stated she was going to contact her lawyer, but neither Mr. Szarlan nor Paul have been contacted.
Weekend Burials – A lengthy discussion was held regarding weekend and holiday
burials. Mr. Szarlan questioned if there might possibly be another way around it without prohibiting weekend burials. Mr. Hasenjager stated there are times when people cannot attend burials held on weekdays. Mr. Szarlan suggested checking into setting up a revolving fund, raising the cost of Saturday burials to $450.00 and using the extra money charged for weekend burials to cover the overtime. Mr. Szarlan questioned how he was going to explain the $1,200.00 appropriated in the overtime account. John stated if he has to work every weekend due to weekend burials, there isn’t enough money in the overtime account to cover this and that this account is primarily for plowing in the winter. Comp time has been used in the past along with the overtime pay, but John and Paul both agreed that without the
seasonal help they don’t have the time to take off for vacation time and didn’t know when they would be able to use the comp time. Mr. Szarlan thought maybe Pathfinder students could be used during their shop week or people doing community time could be used. Paul stated he can’t use students as they would be needed during the summer when school is out and students must be at least 18 years old to operate power equipment. Paul said Lissee suggested privatizing some of the cemeteries, but said this wouldn’t work as all the other cemeteries are sold out and Hillcrest is the only cemetery with lots for sale. Mr. Pease added the Cemetery Department doesn’t have the funds needed to operate the way we should and questioned if the Finance Committee was aware of this and suggested having a member of the Finance Committee attend one of our meetings. Mr. Szarlan made a motion to send out the letters to the Undertakers and Newspapers stating there will no
longer be any weekend or holiday burials. There will also be no sales of lots, location of graves or opening of graves on weekends or holidays as well. Mr. Pease seconded the motion.
There wasn’t any new business brought up at this meeting.
Mr. Pease made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 a.m. Mr. Szarlan seconded the motion.
Respectfully submitted,
Gaylin Bingle
Clerk
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