HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/04/2000 - Regular Minutes - Cemetery Advisory Committee
MINUTES
for the Cemetery Committee
Regular Meeting
Thursday, May 4, 2000 - 10:00 a.m.
C.S. Parks & Recreation
Conference Room
REVISED
Members Present: Katherine Edwards, Chairperson; Joe Wallace, Ed Burns, David Chester,
Sarah Adams, Helen Pugh
Members Absent: Helen Perry
Staff Present: Ross Albrecht, Staff Liaison; Emily Baker, Secretary;
Delmer Charanza, Cemetery Sexton
I. Approval of April Minutes
Ed Burns suggested that the first and last names be used throughout the minutes. Take
out the sentence “It was very impressive” in Section IV: New Cemetery Site Selection
Update; 4 paragraph. In the third paragraph, last sentence; state that “Mr Bardell
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said that this will be something totally unique in the United States”. Katherine
Edwards stated that the minutes are a record for somebody 15-20 years from now to
look back on and that we need to be as clear as we can.
Joe Wallace made a motion that the minutes be approved with those corrections; Sarah
Adams seconded the motion; all in favor.
II. Consideration & Approval/Disapproval of Absentee Requests
Ed Burns made the motion to approve Helen Perry’s absence; Sarah Adams seconded
the motion; all in favor.
III. Proposed Wording Addition to Ordinance #2178 for Salem & Shiloh Sections
On February 8, 2000, Katherine Edwards proposed a statement to close the Shiloh and
Salem cemeteries. That statement was “That Shiloh and Salem portions of the College
Station cemetery be closed to future burial except in those spaces which are clearly
identified as available by the cemetery sexton.” We voted on that as a committee and
sent to the Legal Department. In March, Kristi DeCluitt from the Legal Department,
came back and said we need to identify what the method of identification is, in other
words, what does the term “clearly identified as available” mean; or how is Delmer
(the cemetery sexton) going to determine how a space is available. We need a policy
definition of “clearly identified”. Katherine Edwards added another sentence to the
original statement and that sentence is “The term “clearly identified” means by
headstones, curbing, or other physical and visual indicators or demarcations.” We
Cemetery Committee
Regular Meeting
May 4, 2000
Page (2)
need to send this new statement back to the Legal Department. The new statement will
read “That Shiloh and Salem portions of the College Station cemetery be closed to
future burial except in those spaces which are clearly identified as available by the
cemetery sexton. The term “clearly identified” means by headstones, curbing, or
other physical and visual indicators or demarcations.” David Chester made the
motion to accept the additional sentence to the wording; Joe Wallace seconded the
motion; all in favor.
IV. Aggie Field of Honor Concept
Katherine Edwards stated that we need to draft an opinion statement to send to City
Council on our perception of the information that was presented to us by MDG in the
last meeting regarding the “Aggie Field of Honor”.
Katherine Edwards received a call from Steve Beachy, Parks and Recreation Director,
saying that City Council was requesting additional information on the University’s
willingness to sell that land to MDG for the purpose of a private A&M cemetery. The
Council would like more clarification on that before they get involved in this. The City
Council would like for the committee to hold off sending them an opinion statement
until they get more information and they will share that information with us.
Katherine Edwards stated that there would be an appointed board of directors to run
the “Aggie Field of Honor”. Municipal Development Group is trying to put together a
land package. It will be a private cemetery for alum’s and spouses and dependent
children and faculty and friends of the University. It will be along the lines of a
national cemetery with an amphitheater and fountains. The plots will be fairly
expensive compared to the city cemetery. Joe Wallace passed out a statement of his in
regards to having an “Aggie Field of Honor” and where should it be; should it be
within the city cemetery and if so, then why. Funding to purchase the additional
acreage for an Aggie section in the new city cemetery would not be provided by the
city. The reason MDG came to the Cemetery Committee was to influence the City
Council favorably in this endeavor because without the cooperation of the City Council
or the state legislature, they have to use the city to establish the cemetery or get a
special ruling from the legislature. There were various opinions expressed on the pros
and cons of having an Aggie section added to our new city cemetery or being in favor
of the land MDG has their eye on and establishing an “Aggie Field of Honor” and
supporting them. Katherine Edwards stated that we still need to deal with the issue of
whether we should have an Aggie section in the city cemetery, but we might not know
until we hear if MDG will go through with theirs.
V. Madeley Donation to the Cemetery Endowment Fund
The committee received a donation of $18,000, which is half of the total donation, and
we will receive the other half eventually. Our commitment is only that we find a way
to memorialize the Madeley’s and give them credit. Sarah Adams asked if this had to
be a specific type of memorial and Ross Albrecht stated that if in some way we could
memorialize the Madeley’s for their donation, they would greatly appreciate it, but
there were no demands or restrictions. One suggestion was to put the whole thing in
the endowment fund and naming the endowment fund after them and using the
proceeds from the endowment fund to do projects we wanted to; or 2) take part of that
gift and do some sort of upfront memorial and put the rest in the endowment fund, or
3) to create the urn garden and naming it after them, using part of the gift to create
the urn garden and putting the remainder of the gift into the endowment fund. Ross
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Regular Meeting
May 4, 2000
Page (3)
Albrecht stated that the endowment fund currently has @ $450,000 in it. He stated
that it is in several line item accounts; the money generated from the sale of lots goes
into one account; money coming in from donations is going into another, etc. The
overall goal was to grow it to such a size that perhaps it could partially or totally offset
the annual operating cost of the cemetery. When it was established in 1996, it needed
to be at the 3 million-dollar mark to generate operating expenses. We currently have
1200 spaces left to sell which will generate ½ million dollars, so when we are sold out,
we will have 1 million dollars in the endowment fund and that does not account for
any interest. Ross will find out what the earnings are on that money and get back to
us. For $4500-$5000, we should be able to do the platting and marking in the
cremating area. To further memorialize the Madeley donation, we could get a
monument stone similar to what we have at the fountain area.
So, one proposal on the table is that we take @ $5000 to establish an urn garden out of
the Madeley’s gift and put the remainder of the gift in the endowment fund and either
name the urn garden after the Madeley’s or have a marker to memorialize them as
their gift having made that urn garden possible. Sarah Adams asked how much it
would take to widen the back entrance and Ross stated that it would take $12,000 to
do that. The cremation spaces would sell for $100 each and there are 200 spaces.
The cemetery committee resolves to use a portion of the Madeley donation to establish
and memorialize an urn garden in honor of Ed and Billie Madeley (the amount not to
exceed $6,000). The balance of the donation will remain in the College Station
Cemetery Endowment Fund. Joe Wallace moved to accept the proposal; Helen Pugh
seconded the motion; all in favor. Delmer will check with the funeral home to find a
different wording for the urn garden.
VI. Hear Visitors
Ross Albrecht handed out a memo from him to Steve Beachy regarding the amount of
spaces we have left in our current cemetery and future cemetery size that Council
asked for. We will discuss this further at the next meeting.
The City Council will need some updates from each committee chairman on June 8
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on the goals of the committee; what they have accomplished the last 12 months and
what they hope to accomplish for the next year. Ross stated that would be a good time
to update the council on a portion of the Madeley donation. Some goals would be the
new cemetery site and the Shiloh and Salem updates.
The last item is the request for renewal of membership. Everyone up for renewal
needs to fill out the form and return it to Emily Baker.
David Chester will be out of the country from June through September.
VII. Adjourn
The next Cemetery meeting will be Thursday, June 1 at 10:00 am. in the Parks and
st
Recreation Department conference room. The committee meeting adjourned at 11:15
am.
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