HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/04/2004 - Regular Minutes - Cemetery Advisory Committee
City of College Station
Cemetery Committee
Thursday, March 4, 2004
Central Park Office
10:00 a.m.
Staff Present:
Ross Albrecht, Forestry Superintendent; Delmer Charanza, Cemetery
Sexton; Ann Marie Hazlett, Parks Secretary.
Members Present:
Katherine Edwards, Chairman; Sarah Adams; Mary Lind Bryan;
David Chester; Joe Wallace; Virginia Reese.
Members Absent:
Don Hensel; Ed Burns
Visitors Present:
Charles Cryan
1.Call to order:
The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m.
2.Hear Visitors:
Hearing none, this item was closed.
3.Discussion, consideration and possible approval of absentee requests:
Sarah A.
moved to accept the absentee request of Don H. David C. seconded the motion. All
were in favor and the motion passed unanimously.
4.Discussion, consideration and possible approval of minutes from the regular
meeting on February 12, 2004:
David C. made a motion to approve the minutes
from February 12, 2004. Joe W. seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the
motion passed unanimously.
5.Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding rules and regulations
for the existing cemetery:
As space becomes limited in the existing cemetery, the
committee has concerns regarding the possibility of a group (a person or business)
buying a large number of spaces to sell at a higher price. Currently there is no rule
regarding the number of spaces that can be sold to one person or organization.
However, the Texas Health and Safety Code makes it a Class A misdemeanor for any
individual, firm, corporation or municipality or their officer, agent, or employee, to
sell, offer to sell, or advertise for sale a plot or exclusive right of sepulture in a plot
for purposes of speculation or investment. The committee agreed that any person or
business wanting to buy more than 10 spaces at any one time must first get committee
approval. Ross will put this into the cemetery policy manual and bring the manual
back to the committee at a later date for approval.
The Parks Department is actively pursuing acquisition of a software program to track
owner’s names, deceased names, monument information, etc. Currently, all this
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information is placed on a card system that is located in Delmer’s shop, and space is
extremely limited. With looking for this software package, procedures might change
in regards to selling spaces. Currently, a family meets with Delmer to pick their
spaces. That individual or family then goes to accounting to pay for those spaces and
accounting then inputs all the owner information, space information, etc. Because the
purchase of a software package will require a license for each computer the software
resides on, payment will be taken at the Parks Office where all of the information will
be input at that time.
Joe W. asked who will produce the proof that the individual purchased a particular
space. Ross answered that the person that is doing the data input will produce that
deed. Once a month all the deeds will be taken to the county courthouse and filed at
that time. The county courthouse will file it and send the original with the seal on it
to the Parks Office. At that time, a copy will be made and the original will be mailed
to the owner.
6.Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding operational issues for a
combined municipal cemetery and Aggie Field of Honor:
Charles Cryan, Fiscal
Services Director, reported that Council has approved that staff secure a six month
option on the property on Wellborn Road for a potential cemetery site. Additionally,
the city will continue the investigation of the possibility of having a joint municipal
cemetery and Aggie Field of Honor at the FM 60 & FM 2818 location. He further
explained that by September, staff hopes to take to the Cemetery Committee and
Council information on what direction the city should go in order to proceed with the
municipal cemetery.
Staff did recommend to Council that from a financial standpoint, the Aggie Field of
Honor makes sense. Forecasting shows that it would get the cemetery to a point
where it would recover all of its cost for the new and existing cemetery.
Katherine wanted to clarify to Council that the Cemetery Committee has not given
approval or support for the Aggie Field of Honor. The recommendation that was
given to council was on site selection only. In August of 2003, the cemetery
committee did take a poll as to whether the committee was willing to consider the
idea of an Aggie section in the municipal cemetery. It was the consensus of the
committee that once property was purchased for a municipal cemetery, then the
Aggie Field of Honor group would make a proposal to the committee on how the
project would be organized and run, and at that time the committee would decide if
they would support or not support the Aggie Field of Honor. Charles did state that it
was said to council that the committee was supportive of moving forward and
keeping both sites available at the current time. It will take approximately six moths
to find out if the Aggie Field of Honor project will work, and if it does not, then the
city will proceed with the purchase of the Wellborn Road property.
Ross then clarified what the committee proposed in the November 13, 2003 meeting
regarding the recommendation for the purchase of a cemetery site on Wellborn Road:
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“The final motion reads ‘The College Station Cemetery Committee recommends the
proposed Wellborn Road site (107 acres) for a new city cemetery, not precluding
investigation of a suggested site at the northwest corner of the intersection of
FM2818 and FM60 for a city cemetery and/or Aggie Field of Honor.’ Six were in
favor of the motion (Ed B., Katherine E., Sarah A., David C., Don H., and Mary B.)
and one opposed it (Joe W.). The motion passed by majority vote 6-1.”
Mary raised concerns regarding the pipeline that lies through the property on FM60
and FM2818. Charles responded that this would have to be tackled through the
engineering of this project if this project comes to fruition. Sarah A. asked that this
be investigated along with development costs prior to the ultimate decision of where
the new municipal cemetery should be located.
This was an informational item only and no motion was made.
7.Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding rules and regulations
for the new cemetery site:
David C. moved to table this item for a future meeting.
Sarah A. seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed
unanimously.
8.Discussion of next meeting date and agenda:
The committee will meet on
Thursday, April 8, 2004, at the Central Park Conference Room at 10:00 a.m. An
item will be placed on the next agenda regarding operational issues for the new
cemetery. Sarah A. also asked that an item be placed on the agenda regarding
plantings and other decorations that are being placed in the cemetery.
9.Adjourn:
The meeting adjourned at 11:20 a.m.
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