[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of Evanston as Ch. 7 of the 1977 Code; amended in its entirety
by Ord. No. 88-7. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable]
The burial ground of the City shall be known
and designated by name as the Evanston City Cemetery. The specific
sections of the Evanston City Cemetery shall be known and designated
by name as:
The administration and management of the Evanston
City Cemetery shall be under the supervision and direction of the
mayor and City council for direct and complete supervision of the
cemetery in all matters. The mayor and City council may assign the
functions of the cemetery administration, management and operations
to another operating department or government agency.
It shall be the duty of the designated representatives
of the mayor and City council, to take charge of the Evanston City
Cemetery and improve the grounds thereof, subject to the approval
of the City council; to dig or cause to be dug, all graves, required
for burial of the dead therein, and to furnish the City clerk a full
report of the same whenever requested to do so.
No person shall be allowed to deposit or bury
any human body in any cemetery or place of interment within the corporate
limits without first obtaining a burial permit of authorization from
the City clerk.
The City clerk shall not issue a burial permit
for the interment of any human body within the City Cemetery, unless
the owner of the lot described in the burial permit or his agent applies
for the same; provided, that when application for a burial permit
shall be filed, with a statement that a Title to a lot is not desired,
the body may be interred in the tract of land within the City Cemetery
which is set aside for such purpose.
The City clerk/treasurer shall collect from
those requiring the same fees for opening and closing each grave for
an adult, for opening and closing each grave for a child and for disinterment
of a body, in such amounts as shall be determined by resolution of
the City council. Upon payment or tender of the amount specified by
such resolution to the City clerk, the City council's designated representative
shall issue a receipt for all money collected and retain such receipt
for at least two years in the files in his office. All the foregoing
fees collected shall be credited to the cemetery fund for the purpose
of defraying the cost of opening and closing graves and general improvement
and maintenance of the cemetery.
All persons who desire to purchase or obtain
the title to one or more lots in the City Cemetery shall file with
the City clerk a written application/contract setting forth the name
and residence of the applicant, together with lots applied for as
the same are laid out and described in the plat of Evanston City Cemetery
on file in the office of the City clerk. Such application/contract
shall be accompanied by the purchase price of each lot applied for
and providing terms for payment.
The City, through the City clerk, may enter
into a contract with any person to sell grave spaces, which contract
shall provide that the purchaser shall pay twenty percent of the purchase
price on the signing of the contract and the remaining balance shall
be paid in twelve monthly installments, together with interest at
eight percent per annum on the deferred balance, and the first such
installment shall be due and payable on the day of the month following
date of the contract. In the event burial and a contract shall be
entered into with the City and the purchaser of the burial lot providing
the terms of payment for such space together with perpetual care at
the rate fixed by the resolution of the City council for single grave
space with perpetual care. In the event the purchaser's contract becomes
in default for a period of one year, after thirty days' notice given
by the City clerk to the purchaser by first class mail to the last
known address of the purchaser, the contract shall be cancelled, and
the buyer shall be entitled to deeds to as many grave spaces as he
has paid for by applying his payments upon the principal amount of
the contract at the rate fixed by resolution of the council. Any remaining
balance that has been paid shall be forfeited to the City as liquidated
damages for the breach of such contract, and all rights, title and
interest in the remainder of the grave spaces so purchased under the
contract shall revert to the City, to the exclusion of any interest
whatsoever in the purchaser.
The proceeds arising from the sale of lots and
grave spaces in the Evanston City Cemetery, and all other income and
revenue thereof; shall be exclusively applied, appropriated or used
in improving, preserving and embellishing the City Cemetery and its
appurtenances and to paying the necessary operating expenses thereof,
and shall not be applied or appropriated to any other purpose; provided,
that the City may use income and revenue for purchasing or acquiring
additional adjacent grounds for cemetery purposes only; provided,
further, that the principal of the perpetual care trust fund created
by this chapter shall not be applied or appropriated for any of the
foregoing purposes, and only the interest of income from such perpetual
care trust fund may be used for any of the foregoing purposes for
grave spaces for which perpetual care has been provided.
All lots and grave spaces in the Evanston City
Cemetery sold to private persons shall be sold to include and provide
for perpetual care. The City council may regulate by resolution the
selling price, terms of payment, and use of lots and grave spaces.
No grave shall be opened in the Evanston City
Cemetery except and until perpetual care of such grave space shall
have been paid or provided therefore. The City council may regulate
by resolution the price to be paid for and the terms of payment for
perpetual care and maintenance of grave space previously sold without
provision for perpetual care.
For any cemetery lot previously purchased without
perpetual care maintenance, the City may enter into a contract with
the purchaser for perpetual care thereon, which contract shall provide
for the payment of twenty percent of the perpetual care at the time
of execution thereof. The remaining balance shall be paid in twelve
monthly installments together with interest at eight percent per annum
on the deferred balance, and the first such installment shall be due
and payable on the day of the month following date of the contract.
In the event a burial is made, the opening and closing costs must
be paid in full and a contract shall be entered into with the City
and the owner of the lot providing the terms of payment for perpetual
care at the rate fixed by resolution of the City council for single
grave space with perpetual care. In the event the contract becomes
in default, and after thirty days written notice of such default to
the purchaser given by the City clerk by first class mail to the last
known address of the purchaser, the contract shall be cancelled, and
all payments previously made shall be forfeited to the City as liquidated
damages, and the lot shall revert to uncared for status.
A.
The payment for perpetual care upon those lots and
grave spaces already sold without perpetual care, and the purchase
price of the lots hereinabove provided to be sold shall be paid into
the Evanston City perpetual care trust fund for the Evanston City
Cemetery. This fund may be either kept in a special fund by the City
or may be placed with a corporate trustee for care and maintenance
of the Evanston City Cemetery.
B.
The income from the perpetual care trust fund shall
be used so far as is required solely for the general care, maintenance
and embellishment of the Evanston City Cemetery and shall be applied
in such manner as the City council shall from time to time direct.
The initial perpetual care trust fund shall remain an irrevocable
trust fund, and none of the original principal may be withdrawn until
such time as this fund has reached the sum of one hundred thousand
dollars in the principal amount; and at that time the principal amount
may be withdrawn at the rate of one thousand dollars for each additional
three thousand dollars.
All rights in lots or grave spaces sold as provided
in this chapter, together with all improvements, shall be exempt from
execution and from taxation and assessment for care and maintenance,
from and after receipt by the City of payment therefor. The payments
for grave space with perpetual care and maintenance shall not be construed
to be payment for any of the services described in other sections
of this chapter.
Each cemetery lot owned by the City shall be
conveyed by a certificate signed by the mayor and countersigned by
the clerk under the seal of the City, specifying that the person to
whom the same is issued is the owner of the lot or grave space described
therein, by number as laid down on the map or plat of the Evanston
City Cemetery for the purpose of interment, and stating the price
paid therefor. Such certificate shall be issued when contract fees
are paid in full, and shall vest the proprietor, his heirs and assigns,
with a right in fee simple in such lot, for the sole purpose of interment,
under the regulations of the City council.
The City clerk/treasurer shall have custody
of and safely keep and preserve all of the books, records, deeds,
maps, abstracts of all lots and papers relating to the Evanston City
Cemetery and shall record and keep in separate books for such purposes
records of all matters pertaining to the Evanston City Cemetery. The
City treasurer shall establish and keep a separate account designated
the cemetery fund, wherein he shall record all receipts and disbursements
for the general improvement, preservation and embellishment and necessary
operating expense of the Evanston City Cemetery, and he shall keep
a separate account to be known as the Evanston City perpetual care
trust fund, wherein he shall record and keep a record of the receipts
for perpetual cemetery care and disbursements of income from such
fund for perpetual cemetery care of grave spaces for which perpetual
care has been provided.
The rules and regulations that shall govern
the administration, management, use, care, donations, planting and
markings of graves and grave spaces in the Evanston City Cemetery
shall be adopted by resolution of the City council.
Any person who shall violate any of the rules and regulations provided by section 8-17 shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not more than seven hundred fifty dollars. Any person violating any provision of this chapter, where the penalty is not otherwise provided for, shall be liable to a fine in any sum not more than seven hundred fifty dollars or to imprisonment for not more than six months.
