[Adopted as Ch. 2, Sec. 2.06, of the 1978 General Ordinances]
There is hereby established a departmental activity in the City
organization to be known as Mount Hope Cemetery, to be managed by
the Board of Cemetery Trustees hereby created, subject to the directions
and ordinances of the City.
There is hereby created a Board of Cemetery Trustees consisting
of five trustees, who shall be freeholders and electors in the City,
to be appointed by the Mayor and with the consent of the Commission.
Said Trustees shall hold office for the term of five years, except
that at the first appointment, one shall be appointed for a term of
one year, one for a term of two years, one for a term of three years,
one for a term of four years, and one for at term of five years, from
the first Monday in May of the year when appointed, and annually thereafter,
one Trustee shall be appointed; provided that the first year of their
term shall end on the first Monday in May following their appointment.
Any trustee so appointed may be removed for inattention to his duties,
want of proper judgment, skill or taste for the proper discharge of
the duties required of him, or other good cause. Said trustee shall
serve without compensation.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
The Board of Cemetery Trustees shall appoint one of their number
as a Chairman, and may elect other officers as it deems appropriate.
The Board of Cemetery Trustees may use a nonmember as a recording
secretary and shall keep a correct record of its proceedings and shall
meet at such times as it may be determined. The said Board is hereby
invested with such powers authority as may be necessary for the care,
management and preservation of such cemetery and grounds, the tombs
and monuments therein, and the appurtenances thereof, and in addition
to the duties herein mentioned, the said Board shall perform such
other duties as the Commission may prescribe.
The said Board of Trustees shall appoint, with approval of the
Commission, a sexton and such other employees as may be necessary
for the care and maintenance of said cemetery, and shall have the
care and management of said cemetery and shall direct the improvements
and embellishments of the grounds; and shall enforce the ordinances
of the City made for the management and care thereof, and make such
regulations for the burial of the dead, the care and protection of
the grounds, monuments and appurtenances of the cemetery, and the
orderly conduct of the persons visiting the grounds as may be consistent
with the ordinances of the City and the laws of the state.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
Said Board of Trustees, through its Director of Parks, Recreation
and Cemetery (hereinafter referred to as "Director"), shall fix the
price of lots and make sales thereof. The conveyances of such cemetery
lots, half-lots or grave spaces, shall be for burial rights of human
bodies only and shall be issued and executed on behalf of the City
by the City Clerk and sealed with the seal of the City of Lapeer,
and shall be in such form as the said Board of Trustees, with the
approval of the Commission, shall prescribe.
The Sexton, who shall be appointed by the said Trustees, shall
have police authority in enforcing all regulations of the Board of
Trustees and the ordinances of the City in preserving order and proper
conduct within such cemetery and grounds.
The said Board of Trustees may set off so much of said cemetery
as in their judgment may be necessary for a free burial ground.
The said Board of Trustees shall also have power, in its discretion,
to take, receive and hold any property, real or personal, by devise
or otherwise, which may be granted, transferred or devised to such
Board in trust for the purpose of caring for and keeping in good order
and repair any lot or lots or portions thereof specified in any such
trust.
The memorial and perpetual care fund transferred by Mount Hope
Cemetery Association to the City, in connection with its transfer
to the City of the Mount Hope Cemetery, and all rights and assets
of said association, shall be deposited with the City Treasury and
shall be denominated as the Mount Hope Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund.
All monies raised for such cemetery authorized by this article
and all monies received from the sale of lots, half-lots or grave
spaces therein, shall be paid to the City Treasury and shall constitute
a fund to be denominated "The Cemetery Fund." Said fund shall not
be devoted or applied to any other purpose except the purposes of
such cemetery.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
The Cemetery Board, through its Director, may assess against
every lot or portion of lot (burial rights for which have been sold,
but not in perpetual care) such sum per year as the Board may determine,
for perpetual care; said assessment to be paid on or before the first
day of May for the care of such lots for the ensuing year.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
Whenever assessments for care of any lot or part lot shall remain
unpaid for a period of five years, then the Cemetery Board, through
its Director, shall, after notice by registered letter or publication
in a newspaper circulating in the county, have the right to cancel
burial rights in the unused portion of said lots and to resell the
burial rights. Proceeds of such sale to be used for putting as much
of said lots in perpetual care as receipts from such sale will permit.
The said Board of Trustees may make such rules and regulations
in connection with the Board's care and management of said Cemetery,
not inconsistent with the provisions of this article, as said Board
may deem advisable, with the approval of the Commission; in the meantime,
and until such rules and regulations and the provisions of this article
can be put into effect, the regulations of the Mount Hope Cemetery
Association shall govern as nearly as can be.
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit individuals
from caring for lots or burial spaces, but no such care shall be considered
in lieu of assessments thereon, and provided that such care by individuals
shall not be inconsistent with the regulations of the said Board of
Trustees.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
The said Board of Trustees, through its Director, shall report
to the Commission at the end of each year, the amount of all monies
held, received into and owing to the Cemetery Fund, and from what
source and from whom, and the date, amount, items and purpose of all
expenditures and liabilities incurred, and to whom paid and to whom
incurred, and such other matters as the Commission shall require to
be reported, which report shall be certified by the oath of the Clerk
of the Board.
