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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd.797.12-18-1989 BILL N0. 89-237 ORDINANCE N0. ! � � AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 8 OF THE CITY CODE PERTAINING TO CEMETERIES BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI , AS FOLLOWS: ARTICLE 1 . Chapter 8 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Cape Girardeau, Missouri , entitled "Cemeteries" is hereby repealed in its entirety and a new Chapter 8 entitled "Cemeteries" is hereby enacted in lieu thereof , in words and figures, as follows: Sec. 8-1. Designation of approved burial places . The Old City Cemetery within the city limits, the Catholic Cemetery adjoining the Old City Cemetery, the Lorimier and New Lorimier Cemeteries, Fairmount Cemetery ( formerly known as the New City Cemetery) on the realty acquired of William F. Rodney, Elizabeth Hitt and Martin Krueger, as shown on the plats of the City Cemetery and the ad�ition thereto on file in the office of the city clerk , approved by the city council on the sixth day of November , 1911, St . Mary ' s Catholic Cemetery and the Mausoleum Building, and Cape County Memorial Park are hereby recognized as legal and proper places for the interment of deceased persons within the limits of this City. Sec. 8-2. Establishment of public or private cemeteries; requirements. No person shall lay out or establish any public or private burying ground within the limits of the city unless the authority to do so has first been granted by ordinance . Sec. 8-3. Burials within city; requirements. The body of any deceased person shall not be buried within the city limits outside an authorized cemetery, except by special permission of the mayor , or the superintendent in charge of cemeteries . Sec. 8-4. Superintendent of cemeteries authorized to remove improperly buried persons; exception. If the body of any deceased person is found buried on any lot of ground in this city, and the owner of such lot or his agent cannot be found, the superintendent in charge of cemeteries shall cause the same to be disinterred and buried in Fairmount Cemetery, in such part thereof as the superintendent in charge may direct . This section does not apply to the remains of deceased persons who have been interred prior to April 19, 1918 . Sec. 8-5 . Superintendent of cemeteries. All cemeteries over which the city has control shall be in charge of the superintendent of cemeteries who shall be the director of parks and recreation of the City of Cape Girardeau. The superintendent shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations for the operation of the city cemeteries subject to the approval of the city manager and subject to the authority of the city council . Sec. 8-6. Same--Duties. (a ) Readiness to perform duties . It shall be the duty of the superintendent to be at all times in readiness either by himself or some other competent person, to perform the duties of his office . (b) Preservation of cemetery property. The superintendent shall keep and preserve the grounds, fences, gates and other property of the city cemeteries under his charge in good repair and condition. He shall report to the city manager when necessity arises for repairs or anything relating to the regulation of such cemeteries . (c) Report of trespassers. The superintendent shall , if necessary, report all trespassers on cemeteries to the city attorney, whose duty it shall be to forthwith prosecute the same . (d) Prevent defacement of property. The superintendent shall prevent as far as he can any defacement of the gravestones, monuments, vaults or other erections within the enclosure . (e ) Interment of bodies; maintain gravesites . The superintendent shall mark the graves and supervise the digging of the graves by the persons under his supervision. The superintendent shall oversee the interment of deceased persons who may be brought there for that purpose. He shall oversee the filling of the graves and keep in good order all graves in the cemeteries . -2- Sec. 8-7. Same--Furnishing of records of interments to city clerk ; duties of city clerk . (a ) Required. The superintendent shall, on the twentieth ( 20th) day of the month, after an interment in any of the city cemeteries furnish the city clerk with a permit stating the section number , the number of the lot , the exact place in the lot where the grave of the person interred is located and the name thereof . Where poor or unknown persons are buried in that part of the city cemetery or its addition thereto on the west , devoted to the burial of poor persons, he shall note the same on the plat of the cemetery so the graves may be identified . (b) City clerk ' s duties . The city clerk shall furnish all forms to make reports required under this chapter . Sec. 8-8. Size requirements for graves . Every grave for an adult buried in the city shall be not less than five ( 5) feet six ( 6) inches deep, and for a child not less than five ( 5) feet deep. Sec. 8-9 . Fairmount cemetery plats to be filed in recorder ' s office; sale of lots, requirements. All streets , avenues , walks , commons and lots of Fairmount Cemetery and the addition thereof , shall be known and recognized as shown by the plats of the same filed in the Recorder ' s office of Cape Girardeau County. All sales of lots shall be described by numbers, streets, avenues and walks as in the plats designated . Sec. 8-10. Sale of cemetery lots; certificate of ownership, form and contents . Any person desiring to purchase a grave space in the city cemeteries must provide the city clerk with the name of the cemetery, the section, the lot and grave number as assigned by the superintendent . On the payment to the city clerk of the purchase price of a cemetery lot , the mayor shall make out and deliver to the purchaser a certificate of ownership, which shall be signed by the mayor and countersigned by the city clerk , with the seal of the city affixed thereto, and which shall be in the following form: -3- CERTIFICATE OF OWNERSHIP The City of Cape Girardeau by the Mayor certifies that of is the owner of plot numbered , in Cemetery of Cape Girardeau, in the County o Cape Girardeau and State of Missouri , as shown by any plat of Cemetery, filed and recorded in the Recorder ' s Office at Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri , for which said , h heirs and assigns are entitle o e use o said 1�—in fee simple for the purpose of sepulchre alone, subject at all times to the rules and regulations which may be promulgated by the superintendent of cemeteries of the City of Cape Girardeau . In testimony whereof, the Mayor of the City of Cape Girardeau has signed this certificate and caused the same to be countersigned by the City Clerk, with the seal of the city hereto attached, this day of , A. D. ` Mayor ( SEAL) City Clerk Sec. 8-11 . Grave space costs. The price of all grave spaces in all city owned cemeteries shall be One Hundred Dollars ( $100 . 00 ) for each space . There shall be no reduction for half or full-lot purchases. Sec. 8-12. Burials in Mausoleum Building; permit required; application, fee; certificate to be issued by clerk . All funeral directors desiring to bury deceased persons in the Mausoleum Building in the city shall apply to the city clerk for a burial permit to be issued for a fee of one hundred fifty dollars ( $150 . 00 ) . Upon receipt of the application , the city clerk shall issue a certificate showing the name of the deceased person, the name of the funeral director , and the space in the Mausoleum Building that is to be used to inter the deceased person . All funeral directors who shall make application for a certificate for burial in said Mausoleum building shall be required to bear the full cost of opening and closing the space in said Mausoleum Building wherein such deceased person shall be interred . -4- Sec. 8-13. Burials in Fairmount and New Lorimier Cemeteries; certificate for opening grave required; duty of superintendent . (a ) Al1 funeral directors desiring to bury deceased persons in either the Fairmount or New Lorimier Cemeteries shall apply to the city clerk for a certificate for the opening of a grave. Upon receipt of the application the city clerk shall issue a certificate showing the name of the deceased person, the name of the funeral director , the name of the cemetery in which the deceased person is to be buried, and the section, lot and grave number if known. (b) The funeral director shall present the certificate to the superintendent who shall complete the certificate and return it to the office of the city clerk on the twentieth ( 20th ) day of the month following the grave opening, and the city clerk shall place it in a loose-leaf notebook for a permanent record . (c ) Burial will not � be allowed until a permit is received by the superintendent . Out of town funeral directors may pay for the permit by check at the time of service (d ) The superintendent shall have at least twenty-four ( 24 ) hours notice of a burial in a city cemetery. (e ) No interments shall be permitted after the hour of 4 : 00 P.M. or before 9 : 00 A.M. or on Saturdays or Sundays or on city recognized holidays . (f ) The cemetery assumes no liability as to the information given it by the funeral director , and shall not be responsible for any delays resulting from variances between the information given it and the cemetery records . (g ) When opening a grave, if necessary, the monument and/or its base will be removed and placed in a safe area . The director of parks and recreation or his designate shall determine whether these must be moved . Sec. 8-14. Unlawful to destroy, disfigure, injure or improperly use cemetery property. No person shall wilfully destroy, disf igure, or injure any wall, fence , hedge, monument , tombstone, tree , shrubbery, plants or flowers around or within any cemetery within this city, or belonging to the city outside of the city limits , or use such cemeteries for any other purpose than a burying ground . -5- Sec. 8-15 . Fees for opening graves. (a ) There shall be a charge for the opening of a grave which amount shall be paid to the city clerk by the funeral director not later than the lOth day of the month following the grave opening, as follows : Mausoleum permit ---------------------------------$150 . 00 Adult opening permit -----------------------------�250 . 00 Infant grave opening ----------------------------- 80 . 00 Cremation grave opening --------------------------$ 70 . 00 (b) All burials shall be in casket enclosed in a wooden box or enclosed in a vault of concrete , metal or fiberglass . . Sec. 8-16 . Burial of unknown, poor persons. The commons in Fairmount cemetery are designated as the place for the burial of the bodies of unknown deceased persons , and of persons whose estates are insolvent , and of those persons whose relatives are unable or unwilling to purchase lots in any other part of the cemetery. The funeral director shall pay the cost of having the grave opened and closed . No person shall be eligible for burial in the commons in Fairmount Cemetery unless it is established to the satisfaction of the superintendent that such person was a resident of the City of Cape Girardeau at the time of his or her death or within two ( 2) years of the time of death . Sec. 8-17. Miscellaneous . (a ) The City shall care for the grass cutting, tree trimming , grave maintenance and other general aesthetics of the cemeteries. Such care is , of course, subject to weather conditions and other factors beyond control of the City. The term "care" shall not be construed as meaning the maintenance , repair or replacement of any monumental structures placed or erected upon lot spaces; nor does it mean the repair or reconstruction of any marble , granite , bronze or concrete work on any section or plot in the cemeteries, caused by the elements, an act of God , vandals , malicious mischief makers or unadvoidable accidents . (b) The cemetery reserves, and shall have the right to correct any and all errors that may be made by it either in making interment , disinterment or removals, or in the description, transfer or conveyance and substituting and conveXing in lieu of other interment space in a similar location, as may be selected by the Director of Parks and Recreation. -6- (c ) No walls , fences, grave dividers or grave covers will be allowed . (d ) The funeral director shall make arrangements to have any concrete walls or grave dividers removed that impede the opening of a gravesite . The Director of Parks and Recreation or designee shall determine what must be removed. An additional charge will be assessed for this service . The fee will be twenty-five ( $25 . 00 ) per hour plus the cost of materials and supplies. (e) Disinterments shall be allowed only upon presentation of proper documents . This service must be done by a reputable firm approved by the Director of Parks and Recreation. No disinterments shall be allowed on weekends or holidays . ARTICLE 2 . If any section, subsection , sentence , clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed a separate , distinct and independent provision and such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions hereof . ARTICLE 3 . It is the intention of the governing body and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made a part of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Cape Girardeau, Missouri , and the sections of this Code may be renumbered to accomplish such intention. ARTICLE 4. This ordinance shall be in full force and affect ten days after its oassage and approval . PASSED AND APPROVED THIS � g �/�, DAY OF �,�+���� , 19�. Francis E. Rhodes, ayor ATTEST: Juli A. Dale Depu City Clerk -7-