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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/03/2002 - Regular Minutes - Cemetery Advisory Committee City of College Station Cemetery Committee Thursday, October 3, 2002 Central Park Conference Room 10:00 a.m. Staff Present: Ross Albrecht, Forestry Superintendent; Delmer Charanza, Cemetery Sexton; Ann Marie Hazlett, Committee Secretary; Helen Banks, Parks Secretary; Pete Vanecek, Sr. Parks Planner; Mark McAuliffe, Land Agent. Members Present: Katherine Edwards, Chairman; David Chester; Sarah Adams; Mary Lind Bryan. Members Absent: Ed Burns, Joe Wallace, Neal Nutall 1.Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. 2.Hear Visitors: Anne Hazen, City Council Member, was present at the meeting. 3.Discussion, consideration, and possible approval of absentee requests: Mary Bryan made a motion to approve the absence of David Chester, Ed Burns, Sarah Adams and Joe Wallace for the meeting that was scheduled for September 12, 2002. Katherine seconded the motion. There was no opposition to the motion, and the motion passed unanimously. David made a motion to approve the absence of Ed Burns, Joe Wallace and Neal Nutall for October 3, 2002. Sarah seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed unanimously. 4.Discussion, consideration, and possible approval of August minutes: Mary made a motion to approve the minutes from the August 15, 2002 meeting. Sarah seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion passed unanimously. 5. Chairperson report regarding the request to invite a City Council member to the meeting: Council Member Anne Hazen was present at the meeting. It was stated that in order for a councilperson to come to the meetings, they would need to be scheduled for days that the City Council does not have a council workshop or meeting. 6. Update, discussion and possible action regarding the site selection process of the new cemetery, and its importance to the City Council: Mark McAuliffe reported that several parcels of land have been looked at, however, as of now, nothing has panned out. There will be a meeting with the Mayor on October 15, 2002 regarding the new site selection. Katherine stated that she and Mary Bryan would be attending the meeting. Cemetery Committee Meeting Page 1 of 3 Thursday, October 3, 2002 Ms. Bryan stated that the committee has had the sense that the site selection for the new cemetery has not been of the utmost importance to the City Council. However, she went on to say that having a Council member present at the meeting, and also being invited to a meeting with the Mayor and City Manager regarding the new cemetery, has let the committee feel more confident that there is some importance placed in their agenda. In addition, Katherine stated the urgency to get land purchased for the new cemetery. There are concerns that even after the land is purchased, another bond election will be needed to get the funds to develop the property for a cemetery. It will still be several years before the new cemetery is up and operational, and the current cemetery is running out of space. 7.Discussion, consideration and possible action regarding the master landscape plan of the cemetery: Katherine asked if the intention of the master landscape plan is to list items that have already been done in the cemetery, or is it intended to show what things are proposed to be done. Sarah replied that both items need to be included in the landscape plan. The document is suppose to give an indication to future committee members items that have been done and also items that have been discussed or proposed to be done in the cemetery. She went on to say that if someone decided that they wanted to fund a project in the cemetery, the landscape plan would allow them to see what kinds of projects are available for them to donate funds for. The following items are things that need to be placed on the landscape plan: ? Monument for the garden club ? Patranella plaque ? Madeley Memorial area ? Proposed back entrance upgrade Ross, Katherine, and Sarah will meet together and work on the written version of the master landscape plan. This will be presented to the rest of the committee at a future date for approval. 8. Discussion, consideration and possible action regarding placing a directory in the cemetery: The committee agrees that the idea is great, however, the practicality of having a directory needs much further research. If it is done by notebooks, there will need to be several for the simple fact that there are so many different ways that each space could be cross-referenced. It would also need to be placed somewhere that will be out of the elements (rain, sun, etc.). There is also the question of theft, and how long it would remain in the cemetery before being stolen. The easiest suggestion on accomplishing this task would be to put it all on computer; however, this too may pose difficulties. Delmer has researched the subject, and is not aware of any cemeteries in the area (Brazos county & surrounding counties) that have any directory in them. In these Cemetery Committee Meeting Page 2 of 3 Thursday, October 3, 2002 cemeteries people must contact the cemetery sexton in order to get information regarding spaces. Ross added that Delmer is available five days a week. It is part of his job as cemetery sexton to sell the spaces, refer you to where the spaces are, and look up the information on who is buried in each space. Ross continued that the committee has talked about the potentiality of the new cemetery's records being computer based. He went on to say that purchasing software has been discussed in order to test before the new cemetery opens. This will allow to see how the software works, what are its' problems, what are its' limitations, what information do we need to get in order to make the program work more efficiently, etc. If the new cemetery is going to be a computer-based system, perhaps it could be placed on the City’s website with extremely limited access. This would allow somebody to look on the internet and find out where a person is buried. Sarah asked if there was any way we could put Delmer’s current card file on computer. Ross answered that it could be put on the committee goals when council is updated in the spring. Then, getting the funds to get that accomplished could potentially be included in the 2004 budget process. 9. Discussion of next meeting date and agenda: The committee will meet on Thursday, November 14, 2002, in the Central Park Conference Room at 10:00 a.m. 10. Adjourn: The meeting adjourned at 11:15 a.m. Cemetery Committee Meeting Page 3 of 3 Thursday, October 3, 2002