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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2750 City CemeteriesORDINANCE NO. ,~ 7,~0 AN ORDINANCE UPDATING CODE PROVISIONS REGARDING CITY CEMETERIES BY REPLACING CHAPTER 2.64 OF THE ASHLAND MUNICIPAL CODE THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF ASHLAND DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Chapter 2.64 of the Ashland Municipal Code is replaced in its entirety with the following chapter: Chapter 2.64 CITY CEMETERIES~ Sections: 2.64.010 2.64.020 2.64.030 2.64.040 2.64.050 2.64.060 2.64.070 2.64.080 2.64.090 2.64.100 2.64.110 2.64.120 2.64.130 2.64.140 2.64.160 2.64.170 2.64.190 2.64.2O0 2.64.210 Designated. Reselling lots prohibited. Repairing structures--Consent required. Curbing prohibited. Lots--Prices. Lots--Deeds--Procedure. Lots--Deed--Form. Grave depth. Fees. Lots--Improvement--Consent required. Records. Perpetual upkeep. Trust fund. Authorization to inter remains. Ground burials & interments in crypts. Cremains burials & interments in niches. Markers and name plates. Disinterments. Artificial flowers. 2.64.010 Designated. The Ashland Cemetery, Mountain View Cemetery and the Hargadine Cemetery are declared to be City cemeteries, under the control and management of the City. The plats of these cemeteries are on file in the office of the City Recorder and are ratified and declared adopted. ~ For provisions regarding the cemeteries trust fund, see City Charter, Art. XVlll; for statutory provisions regarding municipal cemeteries, see ORS 226.410. et seq. EDITOR'S NOTE: This chapter was editorially altered per request of the city attorney dated 9/5/73 (Exhibit E); historical background Ord. 873 as amended by Ords. 1117 and 1161. PAGE 1-ORDINANCE UPDATING CODE PROVISIONS REGARDING CEMETERIES (p:ord\cemetery.ord) 2.64.020 Reselling lots prohibited. No cemetery lot sold by the city after February 1, 1995, shall be assigned or transferred by the purchaser to anyone except to the city, who may accept such assignment or transfer in its sole discretion. 2.64.030 Repairing structures-Consent required. No repairs to improvements or structures on lots in any cemetery controlled by the City, aside from repairs to monuments shall be permitted without the written consent of the Cemetery Superintendent. 2.64.040 Curbing prohibited. The building or repairing of any curbing surrounding any lot or group of lots in any cemetery controlled by the City is expressly prohibited, it being the ultimate object of the City to eliminate such curbing, which is a detriment and obstruction to the proper care of the various plots. 2.64.050 Lots--Prices. The prices for lots sold and services rendered shall be established by resolution of the City Council. 2.64.060 Lots--Deed--Procedure. All deeds for cemetery lots or grave spaces in cemeteries controlled by the City shall be signed by the City Recorder for and on behalf of the City, and issued upon payment of the proper consideration without any further authority. 2.64.070 Lots-Deed--Form. The following shall constitute the form of deed to be issued by the City to the purchaser of grave spaces in City cemeteries: "CEMETERY DEED The City of Ashland, Oregon, for consideration of $ conveys to further referred to in this deed as Grantee (whether singular or plural), subject to conditions set forth below, the following described grave space or spaces in the Cemetery of the City of Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon: Space , Block , Section as designated, numbered and described on the official plat on file with the City Recorder of the City of Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon. CONDITIONS This conveyance is subject to the following conditions: 1. No transfer of the grave space or spaces may be made to anyone except the City of Ashland, who may accept such assignment or transfer in its sole discretion. 2. No curbing enclosing the grave space, or groups of grave spaces, shall ever be constructed, and any other improvements to the space shall not be made unless consented to in writing by the Cemetery Superintendent. PAGE 2-ORDINANCE UPDATING CODE PROVISIONS REGARDING CEMETERIES (p:ord\cemetery.ord) 3. Only ground level plaques will be permitted in sections 16 through 21 of the Mountain View Cemetery and no monuments, cement work, or construction of any character will be permitted on the grave space or spaces in these sections. 4. No grave shall be dug except by the City of Ashland through its regularly constituted employees. 5. Grantee, and Grantee's representatives and heirs, by the acceptance of this deed, agree to comply with any and all of the rules and regulations governing the conduct and operation of this cemetery which may be imposed by the City of Ashland. AGREEMENT BY CITY FOR PERPETUAL UPKEEP The City of Ashland, in consideration of the payment above mentioned, and the acceptance of the above conditions by the Grantee, agrees to maintain the space or spaces perpetually in a neat and orderly condition, and at its own expense and to properly care for such space or spaces. No contributions or additional payments shall ever be required by the City of Ashland from the Grantee. Dated City of Ashland By City Recorder 2.64.080 Grave depth. All graves dug in any cemetery under the control of the City must be excavated to a depth of not less than four feet, and no grave digging shall be permitted unless the same be done by the properly constituted employees of the City. 2.64.090 Fees. All fees which are to be collected in connection with the operation of the cemeteries must be paid to the City Finance Department. 2.64.100 Lots-Improvement-Consent required. No improvements or construction, including the setting of stones, shall be made upon any lot in any cemetery controlled by the City unless such improvements have been approved, by written consent, by the Cemetery Superintendent. Written consent by the Cemetery Superintendent shall include a requirement that perpetual care be purchased for the lot where the stone is to be set, if such care does not already exist by deed or other written document. 2.68.110 Records. The City Recorder shall maintain: A. The record and index of all deeds covering cemetery lots which have been, or may hereafter be, issued, which index shall be designated as the "Cemetery Deed Records"; B. An ownership plat of each cemetery under the control of the City, on which shall be kept up to date, the names of the owners of all burial plots theretofore, or PAGE 3-ORDINANCE UPDATING CODE PROVISIONS REGARDING CEMETERIES (p:ord\cemetery.ord) hereafter, sold by the City. The City Recorder is further directed to maintain, as far as practicable, a record of the addresses of the owners of the various plots. 2.64.120 Perpetual upkeep. Every owner of a lot in a cemetery controlled by the City, which lot has been purchased without a right of perpetual care by the city, has the right and privilege to secure a perpetual upkeep agreement with the City, covering such lot so purchased by paying an additional sum set by resolution of the city council, whether the same be actually used or not. The form of agreement under which the City shall contract for such perpetual upkeep under the provisions of this section shall be substantially as set forth in the "conditions" of the cemetery deed mentioned in Section 2.64.070. 2.64.130 Trust fund. A trust fund is created to be known as "Cemetery Trust Fund" into which fund shall be deposited sixty percent of all sums received from sale of burial plots or grave spaces, and sixty percent of all sums received from owners of lots already sold who desire to secure a contract for the perpetual upkeep thereof, and one hundred percent of all bequests and donations, and all other sums which are required to be set aside under the provisions of Section 1 of Article XVIII of the City Charter, the monies in this fund to be kept properly invested, and the income therefrom to be used for the maintenance and upkeep of cemeteries held by or under control of the City. The forty percent withheld from the purchase price of grave spaces and from sale of perpetual upkeep agreements, shall likewise be used for maintenance and upkeep of the cemeteries. 2.64.140 Authorization to inter remains. The Cemetery Department may inter remains of a decedent without liability therefor upon receipt of a certificate of death signed by a registrar authorized by the Department of Health of the State of Oregon, or from an official duly authorized by another state or foreign country to authorize burial of human remains, and either; A. Receipt of a written authorization from the following persons in the following order of preference: 1. The decedent, in the decedent's lifetime or from the decedent's papers after death, 2. The surviving spouse, 3. A surviving child or adopted child over the age of 18 years, 4. A surviving parent or adoptive parent, 5. A next of kin, or 6. Any other person who has acquired the right to control disposition of the remains; or B. Instructions from a mortician or funeral director licensed by the State of Oregon or by another state or a foreign country. 2.64.160 Ground burials and interments in crypts. A. Burials in the ground must be in liners sold by the City of Ashland Cemetery Division, except that burials in steel vaults acceptable to the Cemetery Superintendent are also permissible. B. Interment in crypts must be in caskets or other suitable container approved by the Cemetery Superintendent. PAGE 4-ORDINANCE UPDATING CODE PROVISIONS REGARDING CEMETERIES (p:ord\cemetery.ord) 2.64.170 Cremains burial and interments in niches. The following regulations apply to burials of cremains in urn gardens or interments in niches: A. Burials of cremains in glass-front niches must be in vases or urns acceptable to the Cemetery Superintendent. B. All other burials of cremains in urn gardens, or interment in niches, must be in containers acceptable to the Cemetery Superintendent. 2.64.190 Markers and name plates. All markers must conform to existing sizes and patterns. All markers, except those in areas designated by the Cemetery Superintendent as allowable for upright markers, must be flush with the ground. 2.64.200 Disinterments. The remains of a deceased person interred in a plot in a cemetery may be removed therefrom with the consent of the Cemetery Superintendent and written consent of the person who has the right to control the disposition of the remains of the deceased person. If the consent of any such person cannot be obtained, permission by the Board of County Commissioners of Jackson County shall be sufficient. Notice of application to the board of county commissioners for such permission must be given at least 60 days prior to the proposed date of disinterment, personally or by mail, to the Cemetery Superintendent, to the person not consenting and to every other person or authority on whom service of notice is required by the board of county commissioners. This section does not apply to the disinterment of remains upon order of a court or coroner. 2.64.210 Artificial flowers. No artificial flowers are permitted from March 1 through November 15 of each year. The foregoing ordinance was first read by title only in accordance with Article X, Section 2(C) of the City Charter on the __ PASSED and ADOPTED this / --Uay of Barbara M. Christensen, Ci~ Recorder 3rd day of January / .'J.~',~,.t, ' , 1995. ,1995, and duly SIGNED and APPROVED this - day of ~:~Z/z ~ ~z L~_/f._.~ , 1995. Catherine M. Golden, Mayor AI;~roved ~s/teI form: Paul Nolte, City Attorney PAGE 5-ORDINANCE UPDATING CODE PROVISIONS REGARDING CEMETERIES (p:ord\cemetery.ord)