Holbrook City Councilman Richard Peterson addressed an item on the council’s Oct. 24 agenda regarding the costs and regulations associated with the city cemetery. Peterson introduced the matter in a September meeting, hoping that the council would take the time to consider the topic and then vote on proposed changes in the second meeting in November.
Peterson reminded the council that a few years ago the city raised the rates for the cost of a cemetery plot for those who lived outside of city limits, primarily due to people who never lived in Holbrook purchasing plots in the cemetery because they were so inexpensive. This caused a concern regarding space, so the rates were raised to $375 for residents and $3,000 for non-residents. The cost of a resident child urn or gravesite is set at $100 to $175, depending upon the size, and at $600 to $1,050 for non-resident children.
The councilman explained that a number of people who call Holbrook home even though they may not live within the city limits had expressed concern regarding the cost. He proposed three groups of people be considered for in-town rates: those who live in the city limits, those who have lived in Holbrook for a period of time and have left, and those who live within the greater Holbrook community. That area has not yet been identified, but Peterson said that he felt that the Holbrook Unified School District boundaries could be a good defining point for the greater Holbrook area. He also suggested that perhaps a surcharge of between 10 percent and 25 percent be added to the in-town rate for those that live outside of the actual city limits.
Councilman Tim Dixon agreed with the idea of having the school district as the indicator of who should be allowed to have the city rate, but Councilman Earl Kester said he preferred using the Holbrook zip code.
Councilman C.J. Wischmann commented that he would like to see a committee from those areas formed to address the matter. He also stated that he didn’t like the idea of a surcharge, because those people who live in those areas pay the same taxes as those who live in Holbrook and should have an equal charge for a cemetery plot.
The discussion then turned to the options of creating a second cemetery, with Councilwoman Francie Payne suggesting the city vet out property, either already owned or to be purchased, on the north end of Holbrook to avoid the water table issues that are a concern in the existing cemetery location. Payne also was supportive of the school district boundaries as a way to determine who should receive city rates.
“My biggest concern is with defining other people who may come in, because we want it to encompass families that have been here and made Holbrook what it is and help build it. But I think we have to be careful with how that’s defined,” she said, adding that she agreed with Wischmann that a small committee may be the best way to approach the matter and that she also did not support a surcharge. “I do think it’s really important that we decide now and be as encompassing as we can be for people who have been part of the community or whose families have been part of the community, and naturally they would want their loved ones buried with their other loved ones here.”
City Manager Randy Sullivan said in response to Payne’s recommendation to use land in the northern portion of the city that he had concerns regarding the sand and potential cave-ins while digging new graves. After brief consideration he added, “There are ways that we could shore the holes up as we dig them. It might take a little more time to dig them, but that would be a possibility.”
Vice Mayor Wade Carlisle also supported the idea of a committee and suggested that perhaps the area off of East Hermosa Drive might work well for a second cemetery, since the soil is heavy clay, to which Sullivan agreed. Carlisle suggested a desert-scape cemetery for low maintenance, but Dixon disagreed with the concept, saying he felt it was the city’s obligation to provide a final resting place that was “something beautiful.”
Peterson disagreed with his fellow councilmembers regarding the process of gathering and sorting out information. “I don’t recommend going with a committee. We are the committee. It’s our responsibility to go out to the members of the town and ask them what they want and what they’d like to see, and come with that knowledge to the meeting. If it takes us awhile to get through it, then it takes awhile,” he said.
“That’s why I’ve presented it the way I have is so that we have time to talk to the community. We were elected by the community to make these decisions. I don’t know that anyone else would have any more expertise on these matters than we would,” he said.
Peterson also addressed the Perpetual Care Account the city is supposed to have in place to hold the funds collected from those who had loved ones buried at the cemetery. In an earlier council meeting, Sullivan explained that the account contained so few funds that the cost of maintaining perpetual care of the cemetery comes from the general fund and that the Perpetual Fund Account is not in use.
Peterson told Sullivan that he would like to accurately utilize the account in order to determine the specific costs in maintaining the cemetery, regardless of whether the funds cover the cost. “I’d like to know how much is the cemetery costing us and are we bringing in enough money to cover the costs of those plots,” he said.
Peterson also suggested contacting individuals who purchased plots in the past who may not want them and may possibly sell them back to the city.
City Clerk Cher Reyes told the council that the records prior to when she began working at the city in the mid-1980s had no contact information included, just the name of the family name and the plot location, making locating someone next to impossible. After that time, the records include contact information.
Peterson went on to say that he’d like some of the regulations changed as well. “I like the above ground headstones, but we’ve banned those in our cemetery and I’d like to allow them,” he noted. “It may be a little bit more for the perpetual care, but I go by there and see flowers laying there so you can’t run a lawnmower easily anyway. I’d want to have a family plot with a monument or a headstone for the entire family. I think that adds to a cemetery.”
The next topic for consideration was that of wood caskets. In the present cemetery, each casket has to be encased in a vault due to the high water table, adding to the expense of the family. The council members agreed that it would be worthwhile to investigate whether a wooden casket could be used without a vault if it is above the water table, and if the ground is firm clay, the possibility of burying a person without a casket.
“I’d like to find a piece of property where we wouldn’t have to have a casket at all,” said Carlisle. “If it’s clay and there’s no leaching at a certain depth, then we don’t have to have caskets, is my guess.”
Reyes cautioned that such an endeavor could cause remains to be disturbed and might cause complications if bodies should require exhumation. She suggested that if a decision were made to do that, perhaps marking the borders of the plots would make that feasible.
The council asked Sullivan to locate possible cemetery sites in the city for consideration and do a cost analysis regarding the cost of maintaining the cemetery for the next meeting. He was also tasked with reviewing the policies pertaining to burials in the city and wood casket requirements, according to the state, and above ground headstones.
Carlisle suggested that Sullivan and Reyes work together on the matter and include Parks Superintendent John Guttery, who could identify the types of soil in the various locations and whether they’d be suitable for a cemetery.
“The expense of dying is in the tens of thousands of dollars and if we can make it a lot less expensive, that’s what I’d like to do,” commented the vice mayor.
The council plans to make a decision on the matter during the Nov. 28 meeting.
In other business, the council approved the adoption of the 2017 Navajo County Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan is reviewed and updated every five years by Navajo County Emergency Management and approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). By approving the plan, the city will be eligible for grants for the development of an evacuation route map plan and model that was listed as costing approximately $200,000.
The council also approved claims and payments totaling $191,694, a liquor license application change for Giant due to an agent change and payment to The Tribune-News in the amount of $16.25.
