HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/12/2004 - Regular Minutes - Cemetery Advisory Committee
City of College Station
Cemetery Committee
Thursday, August 12, 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, Chairperson; Sarah Adams; Virginia Reese; Mary
Lind Bryan; Joe Wallace; Don Hensel; James Batenhorst
Visitors Present:
Ed Burns
Members Absent:
David Chester
1.Call to order:
The meeting was called to order at 10:10 a.m.
2.Swearing in of reappointed members:
Ann Marie Hazlett, Secretary, swore in reappointed
members Joe Wallace and Mary Lind Bryan.
3.Introduction of members:
Each committee member and staff personnel introduced
themselves and told a little bit about themselves.
4.Hear Visitors:
Hearing none, this item was closed.
5.Discussion, consideration and possible approval of absentee requests:
Sarah A. moved to
accept the absentee request of David Chester. Joe W. seconded the motion. All were in
favor and the motion passed unanimously.
6.Discussion, consideration and possible approval of minutes from June 10, 2004:
Joe W.
made a motion to approve the minutes from June 10, 2004. Virginia R. seconded the motion.
All were in favor, and the motion passed unanimously.
7.Presentation of certificate of service for Ed Burns:
A certificate was presented to Ed
Burns for his dedicated service to the Cemetery Committee in the past 7 years. He left the
committee with several ideas to possibly pursue:
?Protocol for selecting officers
?Involve the monument industry in the making of rules & regulations of monuments,
monument insurance, etc.
?Sell stone or rock with people’s last name engraved into them to raise money for the
endowment fund
?Commendation of Delmer Charanza to City Council for his efforts in the cemetery
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8.Update and discussion of the Aggie field of Honor proposal:
A meeting was held between
Mark McAuliffe, City’s Land Agent, and Dan Buchly with the University System, to
determine which pieces of A&M land will be affected by the Aggie Field of Honor at the
corner of FM2818 and FM60. Once finalized, both the City of College Station and Texas
A&M will hire land appraisers to look at those pieces of property. That process will generate
two different reports for the land appraisal on those affected pieces of property that A&M
currently owns. When the reports come back and the city has a chance to look at them, then
that will be a decision point for City Council. It will probably be presented to Council the
first meeting in October.
Mary Bryan stated that there are other parcels of land besides what the University owns that
were presented as a part of the Aggie Field of Honor proposal. She asked if it had been
established if those parcels will be available for purchase. Ross answered that he did not
know if that had been investigated yet.
This was an informational item only and no motion was made.
9.Update and discussion on the Wellborn Road property acquisition:
The final sales
contract was sent to the family regarding the Wellborn Road property. The city is waiting for
th
the signed contract to be sent back by the family. City Council, on August 9, through a
budget amendment, made additional funding available should the City choose to move
forward and purchase this piece of property.
This was an informational item only and no motion was made.
10.Presentation and discussion on the Cemetery Operation Policy & Procedure Manual:
Ross informed the committee that the city has acquired a cemetery database management
program for all of the cemetery records. This program will streamline the process for
customers selecting and paying for spaces. Currently, when someone picks out a space, they
must then go to accounting and pay for that space, and accounting issues the deeds. An
owner card is then produced and sent back to Delmer at the cemetery. Eventually,
everything from selecting a space, paying for it, and the issuance of a deed will be done at the
Cemetery Sexton’s office.
In the process of getting the database and changing some procedures, it was discovered that
none of the procedures were actually written down. In answer to that, Ross has prepared a
draft policy and procedure manual and wanted to keep the committee abreast of what was
happening. By next meeting, he would like to have the committee take action on the policies
that are in the new manual. Some new policies include:
?A 15-working day period in which after a family meets with Delmer and selects
spaces, they must make payment arrangements or those spaces will be returned to
inventory.
?The payment of one full space at the time a purchase contract is initiated.
?Restriction on the purchase of a large block of spaces.
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?Filing of permission for use of spaces.
?Procedure when a family would like to sell spaces back to the City. Currently, the
city will purchase spaces back in the amount the spaces were originally sold for. The
city of Bryan, however, will buy spaces back for only $100 dollars to try and
encourage families to sell spaces to other individuals. The reason for that is when a
family sells spaces back to the city, the city must deed it back to themselves in which
they will incur a $21 dollar filing fee to be paid to the county.
This was an informational item only and no motion was made.
11.Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding the issue of ordinance
enforcement in the existing cemetery:
At any given time, there are a handful of spaces that
will have several potted plants, wind chimes, and other things of a temporary nature. The
committee would like to think of some way to help alleviate this problem, thus helping with
the overall maintenance of the cemetery.
Currently, Delmer and his staff will remove those items that have become unsightly and store
them for a period of time before it is destroyed. Most people that have something of value
that has been picked up (i.e. Clay pots) will generally come and ask Delmer what happened
to their items. Delmer takes that time to go over the ordinance with them, and then he returns
that item(s) to the family.
Ross suggested that the committee might want to revisit Section H of the ordinance regarding
plantings and decorations and strengthen that section. He suggested that the phrase “adjacent
to the monument” could be strengthened. Sarah recommended that adding a phrase stating
that “the placing of potted plants, cut flowers, baskets, and all other objects are considered to
be temporary and will be removed when they become a maintenance issue or unsightly”.
Discussion followed and the committee agreed to revisit the ordinance in the future.
12.Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding operational issues for the new
cemetery:
No discussion was held, and this item will be placed on the next agenda.
13.Discussion of next meeting date and agenda:
The committee will meet on Thursday,
September 9, 2004, at the Central Park Conference Room at 10:00 a.m. Items on the next
agenda will include:
?Operational issues for the new cemetery
?Demonstration of new cemetery database software
?Cemetery operation policies and procedures
14.Adjourn:
The meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m.
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