WHEREAS, City's cemeteries are an important public service for which rules and regulations are needed to keep an attractive appearance and the ability to properly maintain the cemetery; and,
WHEREAS, Fees charged for the use of the cemetery should reasonably offset the costs of maintaining and operating the cemetery; and,
Be It Ordained by the City Council of Hawarden, Iowa as follows:
Section 1. Amendment. The Hawarden Municipal Code is hereby amended by creating a new Title entitled "Public Places" with a new Chapter on cemeteries as follows:
Title 10
Public Places
Chapters:
10.01 Cemetery
Chapter 10.01
Cemetery
10.01.01 DEFINITION. The term “cemetery” means the Grace Hill Cemetery to include the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery (accepted in 1984), which is a municipal cemetery under the provisions of Sections 566.14 to 566.18 of the Code of Iowa.
10.01.02 RECORDS. It is the duty of the Clerk 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 shall, among other things, include:
- Plat. An accurate plat of the cemetery;
- Lot Owners. The names of the owners of all lots that have been sold;
- Lot Descriptions. The correct description of all lots for sale and the price thereof, as shall be fixed by the City Council;
- Burial Locations. The exact location of each interment upon each cemetery lot.
10.01.03 PURCHASE OF BURIAL RIGHTS. The purchase of burial rights in the cemetery shall be evidenced by a right of burial receipt signed and executed by the City Clerk or his/her designee for and on behalf of the City. It is the duty of the Clerk or designee to collect the purchase price for any lot sold before delivering the burial rights certificate. The payment of all fees and charges shall be made at the City offices where a right of burial receipt will be issued for all amounts paid. Said fees and charges shall be based upon the charges as set out in the rules and regulations then in effect as adopted by the Council.
10.01.04 RULES AND REGULATIONS. The rules and regulations for the cemetery shall be adopted, and may be amended from time to time, by resolution of the Council and shall cover the hours of opening and closing, the use of roads within the cemetery, the hours for burials, the decorating of graves, the fees for services rendered in connection with interments or the placing of markers and the cost of lots or payments for perpetual care as deemed necessary.
a. Burials:
- There shall be a limitation of two burials per cemetery plot. This can be a combination of two cremations or two infants, an infant and cremation, or one adult/youth and a cremation or infant burial. This shall not include two adult/youths in the same cemetery plot.
- Burials will not be performed on the following holidays. New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve after noon, and Christmas Day.
b. Permanent Plantings/Vases/Flower Displays:
- No permanent planting shall be permitted in the cemetery except in common areas designated by the City. Trees and bushes shall be by permit only.
- The placement of planters, flowers and other displays may only be on the headstone monument so that they will allow the area around the headstone to be properly mowed and maintained without having to remove a graveside remembrance.
Exception: Additional planters, flowers and other displays may be permitted to be placed anywhere on the grave site from two weeks prior to and two weeks after Memorial Day or two weeks after a funeral.
- Silk or plastic flowers will be allowed provided that all other regulations are met. These flowers may be removed, as the City deems necessary, i.e. faded, damaged, etc.
c. Re-Sale of Burial Rights:
- Burial rights within the City Cemetery, to include the former St. Mary's Cemetery may only be utilized by the family or sold back to the City at the original cost paid for the lot. If a receipt in not available such as in St. Mary's the estimated year will be utilized to determine a buy-back price. Resale to a third party is not permitted and burial rights will not be recognized if not the receipt holders.
- Donation to another party is permitted. To donate burial rights to another party a letter must be sent to the City offices to indicate the burial lot location, who the lot will be donated to and their contact information. The donor should also provide their contact information in the letter and shall have the letter notarized verifying the signature of the donor.
- The City will trade a lot for another available lot within the cemetery one time at not cost.
- After 75 years following the purchase of burial rights, the lot shall be considered unused and may then be resold by the City at any time, after proper notice has been given as required by Iowa Law.
d. Monuments:
- City coordination and permission must be obtained by anyone wishing to place a monument of any kind, in the cemetery. Failure to do so will result in the person(s) removing or relocating the monument at their expense.
- All monuments shall be placed on a cement wash base. This base shall be ground level and shall extend at least six inches in all directions past the footprint of the monument within the cemetery lot purchased.
- The location of cement wash base shall be determined as follows: The west edge of the cement wash base shall be located 12 feet west of the east markers and shall be placed parallel to the east markers and shall be centered.
- Only flat or flush footstones shall be permitted. The footstones shall also be surrounded with a 6" cement wash in all direction past the footprint of the footstone.
e. Exhumations:
- The City shall use care and diligence in opening the gravesite of the buried vault, however, the requesting party shall be responsible for repairing any damage to the vault, casket, monuments, etc. as a result of the exhumation process.
- The relocation of the actual vault, monument, transport, etc. shall be the responsibility of the requesting party.
- Exhumations shall be scheduled during normal weekdays and will not be done on weekends, holidays (listed in a), or after 2pm unless so ordered by a judge.
10.01.05 Charges and Fees for services.
Section 2. Repealer. All ordinances or part of ordinances in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Severability. If any section, provision, or part of this ordinance shall be adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such adjudication shall not affect the validity of the ordinance as a whole or any section, provision, or part thereof, not adjudged invalid or unconstitutional.
Section 4. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be in effect after its final passage, approval and publication as provided by law.
Passed and approved this 27th Day of October, 2004.
________________________
Ricard Porter, Mayor
ATTEST:
_____________________________
Craig M. Coffey, City Administrator
First Reading: September 22, 2004
Second Reading: October 13, 2004
Third Reading: October 27, 2004
I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 630 was published in the Hawarden Independent, a newspaper printed and published and has a circulation in the City of Hawarden, Iowa on the 28th day of October, 2004.
_____________________________
Craig M. Coffey, City Administrator
