HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-11-08 Minutes, Cemetery Board
SUNSET HILLS CEMETERY ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
1:00 PM
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Russ Tuckerman, Chairperson
Katherine Ball
Betsy Fordyce
Don Derby, Veterans Representative
Lowell Springer
Jeff Rupp, City Commission Liaison
David Cook, Park and Recreation Board Liaison
CITY STAFF PRESENT:
Ron Dingman, Director of Parks Recreation & Cemetery
Thom White, Park & Cemetery Superintendent
Tim Murphy, Cemetery Foreman
Michelle Dipzinski, Cemetery Board Secretary
Chairperson Tuckerman called the meeting to order at 1:04
Item #1-Approve February 7, 2008 minutes:
The following changes were requested:
Item #3, 7 should read "The water line was installed two years ago, the money not used for the
new entrance funded the project."
Item #4, second paragraph should read "78 cap blocks were made, only 66 were needed"
a
Item #11, final sentence, should read "The finished document will bean action item for the
next meeting."
Boardmember Springer motioned to approve the minutes with the requested changes,
Boardmember Derby seconded.
The Board agreed to move the normal meeting location to the Library Small Conference room
when available.
Item #2 -Public Comment - 3 minutes maximum;
Deborah Watson-Diteman handed out copies of a letter given to the City Commission regarding
damage to monuments within the cemetery. She also provided photos of some of the damage
to her families monuments. She is concerned and upset that city staff, both part time and full
time, are not taking the necessary care when mowing the cemetery thereby damaging
monuments. Other areas she mentioned were that the Cemetery Advisory Board consists of
people that are not from this community thereby they don't have an emotional value on what
is going on in the Cemetery. She also mentioned that the Cemetery is being used for cross
country skiing, stating that the Cemetery is not a recreational area.
Tom Olsen thanked the board for putting the comment in the minutes about the chastisement
of not following rules and regulations from Boardmember Fordyce. He would like to think it
would be the end of it but it doesn't seem the case. He stated there is cement dumped in the
pile at the Cemetery and he doesn't think it should be the cost the tax payers to haul it away.
The Cemetery should follow the same rules as everyone else. He also said the workmanship of
setting the military marker for his friend George Eblin in block 148 is awful and whoever set it
should be required to reset it until it is right. All should follow the same rules.
Joyce Schmidt said Deborah has a point, her father was in the tree business and was contract to
take care of the trees in the Cemetery. She says there is an excessive amount of damage to a
lot of stones, it is unnecessary, unwarranted and the Board should do something about it. The
Board has a duty to the community to make sure this is corrected, the mowers should not hit
stones. She is confident that if that type of care were being done in Arlington Cemetery it
would not be tolerated and heads would roll. She also stated she had talked to the Board in
February about a timeline for the 20 year plan and six months later there still is not one.
Item #3 -Resolution 1742 -discuss and review:
Commission Rupp explained that at the last reappointment process there were some
restrictions that prevented reappointments, this resolution provides more flexibility to the
Commission to appoint members to the board. The majority of members still need to live
within the city limits.
r
Item #4 -Discuss, motion, & vote on applicants for 2 new "At Laree" seats:
The item description needs to be amended by removing "At Large",the seats are for actual
board members.
The board members discussed what they knew of each applicant, issues that were hit upon are
listed below:
Gene Brooks -Has put a lot of time in with the city, he has served on the Park and Recreation
board for 15 years, the Board of Appeals for 35 years, and the Board of Fire Appeals for 10
years. He has been very helpful working on the Veterans Wall, working in all types of inclement
weather.
Carl Craft -Had served on the Cemetery Board previously and did a great job, he stepped down
because the majority of the board did not reside within the city limits. He is a veteran and he
will bring some things to the table that some of the board doesn't have experience in. He is
very knowledgeable regarding legal language and insurance, he would be very valuable to the
board. He has also been very helpful with the Veterans Memorial and is now working on the All
Veterans Memorial.
R. Thomas Dundas -Has quite a few qualifications.
Gail Keiter -Little is known about this applicant.
Joyce Schmidt -Her application looked very good.
Bill VandenBos - He is a fairly new member to the Park and Recreation board.
Boardmember Springer is deferring from the vote, he feels he is very new to the board and
doesn't see anything that would disqualify any of the applicants involved.
There was brief discussion on whether a person could serve on two boards at the same time,
Finance Director Rosenberry mentioned she knows of several people serving on two boards.
MOTIONS:
Boardmember Ball moved to recommend Carl Craft be re-appointed to the Cemetery
Advisory Board with Boardmember Fordyce seconding it. There was no further discussion
and the Motion passed unanimously.
Boardmember Derby moved to recommend Gene Brooks be appointed to the Cemetery
Advisory Board with Boardmember Fordyce seconding it. There was no further discussion
and the Motion passed unanimously.
Item #5 -Superintendents Report -Thom White:
Tim Murphy retirement -Foreman Murphy is retiring from the Cemetery Department after 30
years, at this time the Cemetery is in great shape, much is due to his work and leadership
through those years. His expertise and historical knowledge will not easily be replaced.
MSU Landscape Design Program offer -Cemetery Master Plan -the MSU class has offered to
complete a Master Plan for the Cemetery as a semester project. Input from the Board and Staff
will be a crucial part of how they proceed. This is just a class project that we can keep the good
and get rid of what we do not like. Superintendent White will try and set it up for the students
to meet with the Board.
Also discussed:
Half the seasonal staff has left although the work load has not diminished. The big hail storm
cleanup has kept the staff busy.
Burials have commenced at a steady pace, in a typical week there have been two to three
burials.
The CIP shed has been approved by the Planning Department and is currently at the Building
Department for design approval.
Cemetery staff and BSF have agreed on a crop, it is a grass blend that will be cut for hay. It will
not need to be tilled under and it can be sprayed for weeds. It is cheaper to pay the farmer to
work the land than it would be for the City to take care of weed control. The Board felt this
could be a source of income; there are people that would be willing to give the City a
percentage of their crop. This area has very good soil and could get 100 bushels at $12.00 per
bushel, getting a percentage of that would help considerably. There is a current lease
agreement that was signed by the Public Works Department. Although the staff makes the
negotiations and agreements the Boards input is important and needed. Foreman Murphy
stated that part of the agreement in the past was that a portion of the money received for the
crops would go to the city. The board would like to review the agreement.
The Parks Division wood type "Veteran's Memorial" signs have been installed at the
intersections of Main St. and Cypress and Highland and Curtiss.
A "Cemetery" sign from the Parks Division will be installed along with the "Lindley" sign at the
park entrance along Buttonwood.
Item #6 -Veterans Wall update -Don Derby:
The day of the ribbon cutting was rainy and cold, excellent speakers were there and both the
VFW Firing Squad, the oldest of which was 96, and the Patriot Riders stayed for the whole
event. It was a tough day, everyone did a beautiful job. Other than the weather the program
went well, about 500 to 600 people attended.
Plans are in the process for building an All Veterans Wall, it will be 5 feet high and set at the
back side of the Vietnam Veterans wall. The panels will be sandblasted on granite and will
show the service person's name, branch and years of service. This Wall will have the
capabilities of adding on as more people are interested. The footings are currently being built
and Williams Plumbing and Heating has offered their services and the use of their backhoe
when they are not using it. Holsom is supplying the cement at a cost of about $1500.00,
possibly a little more. The funds for the new wall will help maintain the Veterans Wall and it is
unknown what the charge will be for each name.
There is a directory on the internet to find the names on the Vietnam Veterans Wall; you just
need the first or fast name and the town they come from.
There is currently $18,289.00 left in the fund.
Item #7 - Si~na~e Update on I-90 -Russ Tuckerman:
The I-90 signs are located at Exit 189, they are gold and green MDOT signs that just say
Veterans Memorial but it does allow for other memorials in the area. These are smaller than
the signs in Missoula but theirs lists what kind of memorials they have.
Item #8 -Fee Update -Anna Rosenberry:
Finance Director Rosenberry discussed her presentation handout.
The Cemetery funding comes out of the General Fund and shares the demand with other
Departments such as Parks, Police, Fire and the Library. Separate from the General Fund is the
Perpetual Care Fund; interest earned from the fund goes towards the operation of the
cemetery throughout the year. The body of the fund is not touched.
Revenue from the sale of plots, administrative fees, grave permits, monument setting fees and
disinterment fees as well as the interest from the Perpetual Care Fund goes into the General
Fund. Fiscal Year 2008 brought in $124,307, Fiscal Year 2007 was $108,725, and Fiscal Year
2006 was $103,682. The fees are all set by resolution of the City Commission.
_~
Expenditures come from Personnel, Operations and Capital, Fiscal Years 2008 expenditures
came to $396,042, Fiscal Year 2007 was $365,820 and Fiscal Year 2006 was $451,898. The
revenue coming in only covers about 25% of the expenditures.
Estimated revenue for Fiscal Year 2009 is $123,450 with expenses budgeted at $487,924, a
difference of $364,474. That leaves a 25/75 split
The Perpetual Care Fund is for long term care of the cemetery, as of June 30, 2008 there was
$566,779 in the fund. $53 of each lot sale is deposited into the fund and the fund is fully
invested in the City's pool of investments. It is a very conservative investment pool at 3 %%.
There are approximately 15,300 occupied plots with an annual cost of $31.89 per occupied plot.
The general fund contributes $23.76 of the $31.89.
Staff has asked for direction or advice on future fee schedules from the City Commission.
Commissioner Rupp stated the conversation from the Commission is that they would like to see
the fees cover 50% of the expenses. Other Departments have increased their fees 7 to 9% so it
is reasonable that the Commission would request the increase. It may be time for a pretty big
jump right now.
Director Rosenberry said it was time to increase the fee schedule and that it has been pretty
successful to have a 2 year rate schedule with an increase each year.
It was suggested that what other cemeteries charge should be looked into, there may be other
sources of income that could be used.
Deborah Watson-Diteman said there is a flow of money going toward other departments and
she thinks the cemetery could be self sufficient.
Joyce Schmidt wants to know why the deficit between revenue and expenditures has been
allowed to become so large. She also wanted to know if the Softball Complex was cemetery
land.
It was explained that the cemetery has been deficient for over 100 years; it has always been
supported by tax payer money. Also, David Cook explained that he did research on the Softball
Complex 3 years ago and found that a resolution passed that the land be acquired for
recreation and cemetery purposes. It was agreed at the time that the land would be used for
softball fields. The complex was built in the late 1960's/early 1970's and is a recreation area.
Budgets are set this year, there is no sense of urgency; staff just wanted the board to take a
look and see what is expected. Director Dingman suggested that a work session of the board
be scheduled to put together a fee increase based on the information requested by the
commission. Director Rosenberry will help refine the schedule before presenting it to the
commission; she has spreadsheets with estimated increases so she can run some revenue-
estimates.
The Board wants to take into consideration all the other expenses of a burial, the funeral costs,
the monument and the monument setting costs. The 2006 fee increase was anywhere from 6%
to just under 9%.
The fee increase should be set as an action item for the February meeting.
Tom Olsen said the monument fee would be between $1,100 to $1,200.
Foreman Murphy said the average funeral is about $5,000.
Commissioner Rupp left at 2:00.
Item #9 -Set next meeting date -should be November 13, 2008:
The next meeting will be November 13tH
Item #10 -Other Business:
Courtney Kramer, City Planner is on the Historic Preservation Advisory Board, that board is
interested in doing a tour of the Cemetery at the end of October. They requested doing the
tour on October 25t" in evening; they would use luminaries to light the way. This would be a
free community tour, possibly including a dinner and discussion about burials in the
community. Would the Cemetery Advisory Board be interested in allowing them to do it and
helping out in any way?
The Cemetery Board agrees that the more the community is interested in appreciating the
Cemetery is good but the idea of the tour being associated with Halloween is not the way to go,
it needs to be kept separate and respectful. Having the tour during the day on October 25t" is
acceptable; they will see the beauty of the cemetery. There are rules and etiquette that need
to be understood and followed. It needs to be billed no dogs. Shane Surber from the Cemetery
will need to be contacted to verify there is not a burial scheduled for that day.
Damage to cemetery trees from the bark beetle was discussed; there were 2 pines from the old
nursery that were taken down. The Board will send a letter to Street Superintendent Van
Delinder asking for help with the cemetery forest from the Forestry Division regarding bug
infestation. There are other trees that need to get attention also, there are dead birch trees
within the cemetery that need to betaken down.
The BSF User Agreement gets signed next month; the City pays BSF to use the land. It has to be
acknowledged that BSF has installed one well and wilt possibly install a second but the Board
would like to look at possible changes to the agreement. BSF had over 6000 button sales last
year and no other user agreement pays the user. There are groups that have their fees waived
or lowered because of the work they have done in the park and fields.
There was more discussion regarding the damage to monuments and the Board feels we need
to look hard at the concept of considering parts of the stone as a guard to keep the mowers
away from the actual stone. The heights of the rubber bumper on new model mowers should
betaken into consideration when buying new mowers. The damage shows that people don't
care when they are mowing and feel that training individuals doing the mowing in etiquette and
respect may help. They don't think this is maliciousness but there is carelessness involved.
Superintendent White explained that this is not malicious and that the crews have been talked
to about it. Budget restraints would require that they would do straight mowing but there is no
money for weed eating. There was a time when Grazer mowers were used that caused a lot of
damage; those mowers are no longer used. It is difficult to get returning seasonal staff, they
get paid $9.12 an hour and it can be difficult to get people to apply. Some options that will be
considered is contracting out the work and applying growth regulator that will produce the
grass to grow laterally instead of straight up.
The next meeting will be held in the City Hall Gallatin Conference Room, Thursday, November
13th, 2008 from 1:OOpm to 3:OOpm.
The meeting adjourned at 3:00.
Russ Tuckerman, Chairperson
Date