This chapter is for the purpose of providing for the health,
safety and welfare of the people of Cascade Charter Township in the
matter of all Township cemeteries by the adoption of proper rules
and regulations therefor, and all Township cemeteries in Cascade Charter
Township are subject to this chapter and any and all amendments hereto,
and to any fees and charges established by the Cascade Charter Township
Board as provided for herein. Reference to any Township rules and
regulations in any document affecting any Cascade Charter Township
cemetery shall have the same force and effect as are set forth in
this chapter.
[Amended 9-11-1996 by Ord. No. 10-1996]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
ASSIGNEE
Any person to whom any lot, plot, grave site, or burial unit
has been assigned by the Township. Any and all rights of such assignee
shall be as defined herein and by statute.
CEMETERY
Any cemetery owned or operated by the Charter Township of
Cascade, and where appropriate to the context, the word shall include
the officials in charge of the cemetery and/or the Cascade Charter
Township Board.
FAMILY
One person or group of two or more persons related by bonds
of matrimony, consanguinity or legal adoption.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY
Two persons related by bonds of matrimony, including their
financially supported or dependent children. "Immediate family" does
not include other consanguineous or legal relationships (e.g., brother-brother,
sister-sister, brother-sister, etc.)
INTERMENT
The permanent disposition of the remains of a deceased person
by cremation and interment, entombment or burial.
LOT, PLOT OR BURIAL UNIT
Terms shall be used interchangeably and shall apply with
like effect to one or more than one adjoining graves; to one or more
than one adjoining crypts or vaults; to one or more than one adjoining
niches.
MEMORIAL
Includes a monument, marker, tablet, headstone, private mausoleum
or tomb for family or individual use, tombstone, coping, or enclosure,
surface burial vault, urn and crypt and niche plates.
MONUMENT
Includes a tombstone or memorial of granite, or other approved
stone, which shall extend above the surface of the ground.
REGISTRAR
The Cascade Charter Township Clerk or such other person as
the Township Board may designate from time to time.
RESIDENT
A person living in Cascade Charter Township either owning
or renting a dwelling unit. For the purpose of this chapter a resident
shall also include any person who has resided in Cascade Charter Township
at least 10 years. Where such person is not residing in the Township
at death, such person shall also be classified as a resident if 1/2
of the years of nonresidency is less than his or her total years of
residency.
[Amended 9-11-1996 by Ord. No. 10-1996]
A. Subject to laws. Besides being subject to these rules and regulations
all interments, disinterments and removals are made subject to the
orders and laws of the properly constituted authorities of the Township,
county and state.
B. Time and charges. All interments and disinterments and removals must
be made at the time and in the manner and upon such charges as fixed
by the Township Board, as provided by a resolution adopted from time
to time by the Board.
C. Holidays. No interments, disinterments, removals, cremation or interment
service shall be permitted on Sundays, or on any of the following
holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day,
Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and when any of the above-mentioned
holidays falls, or is legally observed, on a Saturday or Monday, except
by approval of the Cemetery Registrar.
D. Notice. The Registrar shall have the right to insist upon at least
36 hours' notice prior to any interment and at least 48 hours' notice
prior to any disinterment or removal.
E. Application of interment. Only residents of Cascade Charter Township
are eligible for internment in a cemetery owned and operated by Cascade
Charter Township. The Registrar shall have the right to refuse interment
in any plot, and to refuse to open any burial space for any purpose,
except on written application by the plot assignee on record made
out on blanks provided by the cemetery and duly filed in the office
of the Registrar.
F. Must use stone, brick, concrete or metal. Every earth interment shall
be made enclosed in a concrete box or a box of acceptable metal.
G. Interment of cremated remains.
(1) The cremated remains must be permanently interred within a period
of four weeks. If the arrangements for this interment are not made
within the specified time, the cemetery shall be in no way liable
for rental space occupied by the remains pending the time they are
permanently interred.
(2) The cemetery shall be in no way liable or held responsible for any
cinerary container, receptacle or urn placed in any plot, other than
that constructed of cast bronze of standard specification.
H. Authorization of one plot assignee sufficient. The Registrar shall
have the right to make an interment of any member of the immediate
family of any one of several plot assignee's upon the latter's
authorization. No other person may be interred in any plot without
the written consent of all those assignees of the plot who are recorded
as such on the books of the cemetery.
I. Location of interment space. When instructions regarding the location
of an interment space in a plot cannot be obtained, or are indefinite,
or when for any reason the interment space cannot be opened where
specified, the Registrar may, in his discretion, open it in such location
in the plot as he deems best and proper, so as not to delay the funeral,
and the cemetery shall not be liable in damages for any error so made.
J. Orders given by telephone. The cemetery shall not be held responsible
for any order given by telephone or for any mistakes occurring from
the want of precise and proper instructions as to the particular space,
size and location in a plot where interment is desired.
K. Errors may be corrected. The Registrar shall have the right to correct
any errors that may be made either in making interments, disinterments
or removals, or in the descriptions, transfer or conveyance of any
interment property, either by cancelling such conveyance of any interment
property, and substituting and conveying in lieu thereof other interment
property in a similar location as far as possible, or as may be selected
by the Registrar, or, in the sole discretion of the Registrar by refunding
the amount of money paid by the subject assignee. In the event such
error shall involve the interment of the remains of any person in
such property, the Registrar shall have the right to remove and/or
transfer such remains so interred to such other property in a similar
location as may be substituted and conveyed in lieu thereof. The Registrar
shall also have the right to correct any errors made by placing an
improper description, including an incorrect name or date, either
on the memorial or on the container for cremated remains.
L. Delays in interments caused by protests. The Township and Township
officials shall be in no way liable for any delay in the interment
of a body where a protest to the interment has been made, or where
the rules and regulations have not been complied with; and, further,
the Township reserves the right under such circumstances to place
the body in the receiving vault until the full rights have been determined.
The Township shall be under no duty to recognize any protests of interments
unless they be in writing and filed in the office of the Registrar.
M. Not responsible for embalming or for identity. The Township shall
not be liable for the interment permit nor for the identity of the
person sought to be interred or cremated; nor shall the Township be
liable in any way for the embalming of the body, unless such embalming
be done by the Township, and then only for negligence in performing
the embalming.
N. No interment permitted unless all fees and charges are paid. No interment
shall be permitted or memorial placed in or on any grave not fully
paid for except by special consent of the Registrar in writing in
each and every case, and in the event such consent is given, and all
interments or memorials placed in or on said plot shall be considered
as temporary, and a note shall not be considered as payment, and no
rights shall be acquired by the plot assignee of said interment or
interments until such charges and fees are fully paid for in cash,
including principal and interest; and in case the assignee of said
plot shall fail to meet all payments within 30 days after the same
are demanded by the cemetery, then the cemetery may reenter said property
and hold the same as of its former estates. The Township thereupon
shall be released from all obligations thereunder, and it may retain
such payments as may have been made toward the assignment of such
property as liquidated damages. The Township reserves the right and
shall have the right immediately or at any time thereafter, without
notice, at its discretion to cremate or to remove to single graves,
to be chosen by the Township, each of the remains then interred in
said plot. The Township, further, shall have the right to remove any
memorial that may have been placed on said property.
O. Burial boxes over four feet in length. Burial boxes over four feet
in length will be classed as adult size.
P. Funeral zone. Strangers are not allowed to approach the grave at
a funeral. When deemed necessary by the Registrar or on request of
a lot assignee or his representative, a funeral zone may be established
and properly marked, and no one except persons attending the funeral
will be permitted to trespass within its boundaries.
Q. Number of burial rights per lot. The number of burial rights assigned
on any lot will be recorded on the burial certificate when lots are
assigned.
R. Care in removal. The Township shall exercise the utmost care in making
a removal, but it shall assume no liability for damage to any casket
or burial vase or urn incurred in making removal.
[Amended 9-11-1996 by Ord. No. 10-1996]
The Township Clerk shall keep a record in his office of certificates
and receipts for perpetual care of burial units, and a record of burials
so reported to him by the Registrar, and such other records as deemed
necessary by the Township Board. He shall also maintain complete records
of all assignments, receipts, burial records, and all other matters
affecting Township cemeteries.
Gratuities may not be accepted by employees. No person, while
employed by the cemetery shall receive any fee, gratuity or commission,
except from the Township, directly or indirectly, under penalty of
immediate dismissal.
The cemetery shall take reasonable precaution to protect plot
assignees within the cemetery, but it distinctly disclaims all responsibility
for loss or damage from causes beyond its reasonable control, and
especially from damage caused by the elements, acts of God, common
enemy, thieves, vandals, strikers, malicious mischief makers, explosives,
unavoidable accidents, invasions, insurrections, riots, or order of
any military or civil authority, whether the damage be direct or collateral,
other than is herein provided.
It shall be the duty of the plot assignee to notify the cemetery
of any change in his post office address. Notice sent to an assignee
at the last address on file in the office of the Registrar shall be
considered sufficient and proper legal notification.
Special cases may arise in which the literal enforcement of
a rule may impose unnecessary hardship. The Township Board, therefore,
reserves the right, without notice, to make exceptions, suspensions
or modifications in any of these rules and regulations when, in its
judgement, the same appear advisable, and such temporary exception,
suspension or modifications shall in no way be construed as affecting
the general application of such rule.
[Amended 9-11-1996 by Ord. No. 10-1996]
A. Graves will be assigned only at time of need, when a death occurs
in the family of the applicant.
B. Maximum of two graves will be assigned to any applicant except by
permission of the registrar of the Township Board. Additional graves
may be assigned by the registrar only upon a determination that unique
or special circumstances exist to warrant additional grave sites for
members of the immediate family.
Fees and refunds for grave assignments and opening and closing
graves and refunds in cases where application is made therefor shall
be as the Township Board shall establish from time to time by resolution.
Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall be responsible for a municipal civil infraction, subject to the penalties in Chapter
40, Article
IV, Penalties for Misdemeanors and Municipal Civil Infractions.