[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Marion
as Ch. 115 of the 2000 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The Oakshade Cemetery, which is a municipal cemetery under
the provisions of Chapter 523I of the Code of Iowa.
Are one in the same.
The rights to place remains in a specific location for use
as a final resting place or memorial.
An agreement to furnish memorials, memorialization, open
and closing services or interment rights.
The Park Board shall be responsible for the management of the
Oakshade Cemetery and any other cemetery ground that may hereafter
be owned or operated by the City.
[Amended 3-23-2023 by Ord. No. 23-02]
It is the duty of the Park Board to make and keep a permanent
record of all interments made in the cemetery, which record shall
at all times be open to public inspection. The record will be in accordance
with Iowa Code § 523I.311.
The sale or transfer of interment rights in the cemetery shall
be evidenced by a certificate of interment rights or other instrument
evidencing the conveyance of exclusive rights of interment upon payment
in full of the purchase price. The agreement for interment rights
shall disclose all information required by the Iowa Cemetery Act,
including the amount or percentage of money to be placed in the perpetual
care cemetery fund.
A.
Trustee. Pursuant to § 523I.502
of the Code of Iowa, the City of Marion hereby states its willingness
and intention to act as the trustee for the perpetual maintenance
of interment spaces in Oakshade Cemetery.
B.
Establishment of trust fund.
(1)
A perpetual
trust is hereby established for Oakshade Cemetery in accordance with
Iowa Code Chapter 523I, the Iowa Cemetery Act. A restricted fund is
created, to be known and designated as the "Perpetual Care Cemetery
Fund," which shall be funded by the deposit of an amount equal to
or greater than 20% of the gross selling price, or $50, whichever
is more, for each sale of interment space within the cemetery. The
fund shall be administered in accordance with the purposes and provisions
of Iowa Code Chapter 523I.
(2)
The
perpetual care cemetery fund shall be maintained separate from all
operating funds of the cemetery, and the principal of the fund shall
not be reduced voluntarily except as specifically permitted by the
Iowa Cemetery Act and applicable administrative regulations.
C.
Perpetual care registry. The cemetery
shall maintain a registry of individuals who have purchased interment
rights in the cemetery subject to the care fund requirements of the
Iowa Cemetery Act, including the amounts deposited in the perpetual
care cemetery fund.
Any person who destroys, injures or defaces any grave, vault,
tombstone or monument, or any building, fence, tree, shrub, flower
or anything in or belonging to any cemetery under the jurisdiction
of the City shall be liable for any and all damage, in addition to
being subject to any other penalty imposed.
The Park Board shall at such times as it deems appropriate recommend
changes in cemetery fees and charges to the City Council for its consideration
and adoption by resolution.
The rules governing the use of public cemeteries of the City
are as follows:
A.
GRAVE SPACE
LOT
RELATIVE
Definitions. As used in this section,
the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
The space of ground used or intended to be used for an in-ground
burial.
An area containing more than one interment space, identified
by a numeric system and in most cases containing 12 spaces.
A great-grandparent, grandparent, father, mother, spouse,
child, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle aunt, first cousin, second
cousin, third cousin or grandchild connected to a person by either
blood or affinity.
B.
Potted plants are allowed and
shall be placed adjacent to the headstone. Plants placed in the ground
shall be prohibited on lots/grave spaces unless written permission
has been received from the Park Board or its authorized representatives.
All decorations shall be removed on or before March 1 for spring cleanup.
New decorations may be placed after May 1. All decorations shall be
removed by October 1 for fall cleanup. Blankets and wreaths are permitted
after Thanksgiving and may remain until March 1. No breakable containers
are permitted at a grave space.
[Amended 3-23-2023 by Ord. No. 23-02]
C.
Burials without a concrete vault
or equivalent structure that minimizes excessive settling of a grave
are prohibited.
D.
Headstones, monuments or markers
must be set on foundations and shall be constructed of concrete or
granite, shall extend four inches beyond the marker on all sides,
and shall be of an adequate depth to hold the stone upright. Placement
of memorials must be approved by the cemetery and be completed by
an approved memorial dealer.
E.
The cemetery shall be open daily
from 8:00 a.m. to sunset, and no one shall be present on the cemetery
property except between those hours.
F.
Cremated remains shall be interred
at least 18 inches below the surface of the ground. Scattering of
cremated remains on the surface of the ground is prohibited in the
cemetery.
G.
Interments shall be limited to
one traditional interment (full burial) or up to two cremains interments
in each interment space.
H.
The Park Board is empowered to
make special exceptions to the foregoing rules upon a written request
and a clear and definite showing that literal enforcement of the rule
would create an unreasonable hardship and that the exception would
not defeat the public interest served by the rule.
I.
No interment space shall be sold
or transferred without notifying the cemetery, at which time the records
shall be updated and a new certificate of interment rights issued.
J.
No person shall be interred in
a grave space except the owner of interment rights or their relative.
[Ord. No. 18-03]
[Added 3-23-2023 by Ord.
No. 23-02]
The City Clerk, on behalf of the Park Board, shall prepare and
file an annual report in accordance with Iowa Code § 523I.813.
