[Code 1955, § 5-3.1]
All cemeteries now owned or which may hereafter be acquired
by the City are hereby declared to be public burying grounds, and
no person or organization of persons shall establish any cemetery
within the City. No person shall bury any human body in any place
within the City other than in public burying grounds.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.2]
The two cemeteries now owned by the City shall all be known
respectively as "Pilgrim Home Cemetery" and "Graafschaq Cemetery."
[Code 1955, § 5-3.3]
The Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries shall keep a full
and complete record of all lots, graves, lot and grave owners and
interments in the cemeteries of the City, and, for such purpose, locations
of lots and graves shall be shown on plats by the necessary surveyor's
monuments, and by a system of recorded measurements from fixed landmarks,
indicating permanently the exact location of lots and graves.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.4; Ord. No. 1316, 9-19-2001]
(a)
No person shall bury any body except a human body in any public burying
ground.
(b)
No person shall bury more than one body in a single grave except;
(i) in the case of infants, and then only two infants may be buried
in a single grave space; or (ii) except on perimeter lots where space
allows, as determined by the Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries,
a person may be allowed to bury one body and one cremains in a single
grave.
(c)
No person shall bury more than four cremains only in a single grave
space.
(d)
No person shall bury any body in the public burying grounds without
having purchased a burial right and paid in full therefor.
(e)
No person shall bury any body in the public burying grounds except
in accordance with the state law and applicable state and local ordinances,
rules, and regulations.
(f)
All graves shall be prepared by the employees of the City.
(g)
Funerals, while within the cemetery grounds, shall be under the control
of the Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries, and no burial shall
be permitted without a proper burial or transit permit, as provided
by the laws of the state.
(h)
No change in location of a grave shall be made after a designation
of the place of interment by the undertaker in charge, except on request
of the owner or undertaker and at the expense of the one making the
request. The City shall not be responsible for any mistake in location
occasioned by anyone except an employee of the City.
(i)
Graves shall not be reopened, except in case of necessity for a proper
removal of a body to another location, or upon an order for any investigation
provided or permitted by law. Before a permit is authorized for the
reopening of a grave, except in case of reopening for an investigation,
the one making such request shall exhibit evidence of the right to
remove such body for transfer.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.5]
(a)
Burial right and cemetery care certificates shall be issued in such
form as the City Council shall prescribe.
(b)
Burial in any burial plot shall be restricted to the owner of such
plot and his or her parents, children and spouse, unless written authorization
is obtained from such owner or his or her heirs.
(c)
Burial rights in the public burying grounds shall be sold and services
shall be paid for at the rates established by resolution of the Council.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.6]
Burial right and cemetery care certificates are nontransferable.
During the owner's life, he or she may effect a transfer
of his or her rights under such certificates by executing an appropriate
instrument of transfer and filing the same with, and surrendering
his or her certificates to, the Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries,
who shall issue a new certificate to the transferee.
Upon notice being given to the Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries
of the owner's demise, upon satisfactory evidence being filed
with such Superintendent as to the identity of the devisees or heirs
of such owner who are entitled to receive such rights, and upon surrender
of the owner's certificates, the Superintendent shall issue new
certificates to the persons who are entitled to receive the same.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.7; Ord. No. 845; 1-17-2018 by Ord. No. 1709]
For the care, maintenance and ornamentation of the cemeteries
of the City, the standards set forth in Subsections (a) through (j)
of this section shall apply.
(a)
The City Manager shall establish grade levels at which all graves
in a given area shall be kept.
(b)
No burial shall be made except in underground containers of construction
approved by the City Manager.
(c)
The material of and manner of erecting monuments, headstones and
markers, the type, location and trimming of trees and shrubs and the
manner in which they are planted shall be subject to the approval
of the Director of Parks and Recreation.
(d)
No person shall erect any enclosure in the nature of a fence, hedge
or curbing upon any lot or plot after April 30, 1955.
(e)
No trees or shrubs shall be planted or placed in the cemeteries of
the City, except by the Director of Parks and Recreation.
(f)
The sale price of all lots hereafter sold shall include a specific
amount to be invested, the income therefrom to be used solely for
the care and maintenance of the cemeteries.
(g)
The care and maintenance of lots sold prior to April 30, 1955, may
be provided for by an agreement between the City and the lot owner.
(h)
Where lot owners have not provided for care by the City, the record
owner of one or more lots shall trim, mow, weed and sprinkle such
lots in such manner as to maintain such lots in conformity to the
general plan of care and maintenance of the cemetery and in conformity
with the care of surrounding lots; and in the event the Director of
Parks and Recreation shall determine that inadequate care is being
given, the City Manager may direct that care thereof shall be undertaken
by the Director of Parks and Recreation at the rate of annual care
as established by the Council, provided that notice of such care shall
be given by registered mail to the owner of record thereof at his
or her last known post office address at least 30 days prior to the
commencement of such care. In the event that payment is not made for
the care thus furnished, or personal care thereof is not resumed by
the owner during a period of two years from and after the service
of such notice, the purchase price of such lots may be refunded to
the record owner thereof, deducting therefrom the cost of care and
expense of notice, and the burial rights in the unused lots shall
thereupon revert to the City. In the event that notice cannot be delivered
as hereinbefore provided, the provisions of Act No. 46 of the Public
Acts of 1931 and any amendment thereto shall govern.
(i)
The Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation shall provide water for personal care of lots as provided in Subsection (h) of this section at the rate established by resolution of the City Council, per grave space per annum.
(j)
Payment for annual care or water fee shall be made no later than
May 1 in each year.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.9]
Whenever, in the judgment of the Superintendent of Parks and
Cemeteries, any tree, plant, shrub or ornamentation of any kind has
become unsightly, dangerous or detrimental to the adjacent lot owners,
or the public use of the cemetery, the Superintendent may remove the
same. Urns and containers so removed may be sold by the Superintendent
of Parks and Cemeteries after one year from the date of removal upon
30 days' written notice delivered personally or sent by registered
mail to the owner of the lot or plot from which the same were removed,
at the last known address of the owner of the lot or plot.
Whenever any marker, headstone or monument has, in the judgment
of the Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries, become unsightly, dangerous
or detrimental to adjacent lot owners or the public, the Superintendent
may remove the same 30 days after he or she has served personally
or mailed a written notice to the last known address of the owner
of the lot or plot from which such marker, headstone or monument is
to be removed.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.8]
No person shall cut, remove, injure or carry away any tree,
flower or other decorative planting; nor deface, injure, remove or
displace any monument, marker or ornamental equipment; nor carry away,
remove, destroy or injure any flower pot, vase, flowers or other ornamentation;
nor shall any person traverse by mechanical means, or upon any animal,
any portion of any City cemetery except upon ways provided for such
purpose.
[Ord. No. 1492, 2-6-2008]
No person shall permit or lead any animal, fowl, or reptile,
whether leashed or not, in any cemetery (including any buildings located
thereon) owned or maintained by the City.
The prohibition imposed by this section shall not, however,
apply to the use of animals by physically handicapped persons for
the purpose of assisting such persons.
[Code 1955, § 5-3.10]
The Superintendent of Parks and Cemeteries shall make such rules
and regulations as shall promote the general objects of this chapter,
and for the general improvement of the public burying grounds, subject
to the approval of the Council.
[Ord. No. 1495, 3-5-2008]
Any person who violates or fails to comply with the provisions of Section 8-9.1 or any of the subsections is responsible for a Class I municipal civil infraction and subject to the civil fines set forth in the schedule of civil fines in Section 2-118 of this Code and any other relief that may be imposed by the court. Each act of violation and each day upon which such violation occurs shall constitute a separate violation.
