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Home My WebLink About1984-09-04 Advisory Cemetery Committee SummaryCITY OF KENAI 210 FIDALGO KENAI, ALASKA 99611 TELEPHONE 283 - 7535 August 20, 1984 Tim Wisniewski Cemetary Committee Box 4 299 Kenai, AK 99611 At the Aug. 15, lP84, the Kenai City following for the Cemetary Committee: Council approved the Tim Wisniewski, Chairman Sharon Beaudry, Box 1075, 283-9215 Elsie C~esswell, Box 396, 283-7661 Carolyn Wood, Box 260~, 28~-7067 3ohn Wood, Box 5065, 283-~644 Sally Bailie, Chris Monfor - Ad .Hoc Members, Council I have enclosed copies of the Council discussions this committee. relating to Please ,.,:/ 3anet Whelan ~" City Clerk jw contact me if you have any questions. KENAI CEMETERY COMMITTEE September 4, 1984 Kenai City Hall Organizational Meeting- no agenda !_. ....E~_tablish ,Goals ..and ObJectiYe~ The Committee set up a list, not prioritized, of goals and objectives: Identify major concerns Relocating o~ establishing a new cemetery Finding lands available Maintenance of existing cemetery Cha~ge on plots Draf~ covenants Appoint manage~ or representative from the Ci%y who will be in cha~ge of g~ave selection o~ ~ese~ving lots Ensure that graves are properly open and closed without damage to othe~ sites Chairman Wisniewski opened the meeting ~o comments from members. The first attemp~ at uniformity appea~s to be in the 1940's. the~e lsa sectlon of property where the trees have. been removed that have some g~avesites. A priority would be to ldentlfy g~avesltes to ensure the future sale of sites no~ already occupied. An a~ea that may be available to fu~the~ develop is located farther north of the exlstlng site because, as far as anyone knows, the~e a~e no graves existing. The current g~avesites would be left for families already established. There is alot of history of Kenal in this cemetery and it should be restored. Kasilof Cemetery is currently charging $100 for a space but it is-not known wha~ the fee includes. The cemetery is well maintained and marked, the ma~kers being left up to the funeral home. Kasilof is a relatively new cemetery but is nearly full. Bill B~igh~on asked what Kenai is cha~ging, Chairman Wisniewski explained ~ha~ the charge is left up to the individual funeral home ~igh~ now. Chairman Wisniewski stated that perhaps one of the first steps would be to request the cemetery be staked or surveyed to establish the actual land available. The City Engineer and Chairman Wisniewski attempted to step off the perimeters and gave up, there being no uniformity or survey markers. The problem is magnified during ~he win[er months when grave markers canno~ be found, nor any type of survey markers. The committee discussed requiring more permanen% markers for the graves, but again this takes some long range planning. Bill Brighton stated that, first, the cemetery property should be §raked to make a determination of whether there may be any interferences from within the confines of ~he FAA, second, this g~oup should o~ganlze i~self as to KENAI CEMETERY COMMITTEE Septembe~ 4, 1984 Page 2 chair and vice chair; and third, ~he first philosophical decision tha~ ought to be made is whether or not the City ought ~o be in the cemetery business. The alternative is a non-profi~ committee, and have the City turn the cemetery over to that committee to operate. Or the City be ~esponsible. Secondly, afte~ those dimensions a~e s~aked down, it would appear that we made a very feeble attempt with the City Engineer to lay out lots. Regardless of who ge~s it or who runs it, its going to have to be surveyed. The las~ major point is to make some decision about some rules and regulations on how i~ is ~o be ~un. Those things can be done without a decision on whether or not the City is going to continue to operate i~. From the City's standpoint, if we run i~, its going to be alot mo~e expensive ~han if a non-profit organization ran it just because of its nature. The Committee discussed fees charged for other cemeterys and possible fees for ~he Kenai cemetery. Bill Brighton was asked about contacting other communities about the same size as Kenai that have cemeterys that are run by volunteer organizations.and find out what their success ra~io is. Mr. Brighton stated that the best people to contact are communities within the state of Alaska and of equal size. Homer is entirely run by the City of HOmer a~ a fee of abou~ $100 each which does not include the opening of graves,etc. Bill brighton slated that he could contact the Director of the Municipal League and have him do some research in such communities as Valdez, Homer, and perhaps put the whole ~hing together, provide us with their rules and regulations then make a decision. This would probably ~ake about ) to 4 weeks. 3ohn stated that discussing problems is the easy part, the Committee needs to set up some definite rules and regulations is of the utmost importance regardIess of whether or not the cemetery is expanded, moved, whatever. Chairman Wisniewski stated th KENAI CEMETERY COMMITTEE September 4, 1984 Kenai City Hail Organizational Meeting - no agenda !._. ..... Establish ....Goa !S _and _. Obi .e,c.t i.ve.s The Committee se~ up a list, not prioritized, of goals and objectives: Identify major concerns Relocating or establishing a new cemetery Finding lands available Maintenance of existing cemetery Cha~ge on plots D~af~ covenants Appoin~ manage~ or rep~esenta[ive f~om ~he City who will be in KENAI CEMETERY COMMITTEE Sep~embe~ 4, 1984 Page ) charge of grave selection or reserving lots Ensure ~hat graves are properly open and closed withou~ damage to other sites Chairman Wisniewski opened the meeting to comments from members. The first attempt at uniformity appears to be in the 1940's. there is a section of property where the trees have been removed that have some gravesites. A priority would be ~o identify gravesites ~o ensure ~he future sale of sites not already occupied. An area ~hat may be available to further develop is located farther north of the existing site because, as far as anyone knows, there are no graves existing. The curren~ gravesites would be left for families already established. There is alot of history of Kenai in this cemetery and it shouId be restored. Kasilof Cemetery is currently charging $100 for a space but it is not known what the fee incIudes. The cemetery is weli maintained and marked, the markers being lef~ up to the funerai home. Kasiiof is a relatively new cemetery but is nearIy fulI. Bii1 Brighton asked what Kenai is charging, Chairman Wisniewski expIained that the charge is left up to ~he individual funeral home right now. Chairman Wisniewski stated that perhaps one of the first steps would be to request the cemetery be staked or surveyed to establish the actual land available. The City Engineer and Chairman Wisniewski attempted to step off the perimeters and gave up~ there being no uniformity or survey markers. The problem is magnified during the winter months when grave markers cannot be found, nor any type of survey markers. The committee discussed requiring more Permanent markers for the graves, but again this takes some long range planning. Bill Brighton stated thaat at one time there were rules and regulations that were sent out, but no enforcement. The only thing that would put some teeth into any rules set out by the Committee is if the City were to enforce the rules. If the City had the cemetery platted out and hanging on the wall so it is visible, you will then have control over the situation. It does not appear that more than one facilitator would be necessary. 3ohn agreed that any time a city has control over a cemetery there is always problems. Councilwoman Monfor suggested that the first step would be to have the cemetery surveyed, then the City could send some letters out to the community to see if there is any interest in running the cemetery. Counciiwoman Bailie stated khat realiskically, the Commiktee will have to consider cIosing off the old section and beginning a new section. Councilwoman Bailie stated that she would give a report at the next Council meeting on the outcome of this meeting and the decision to hoid activities untiI the cemetery couid be platted and the report f~om the Municipal League has ~eturned from M~. B~ighton. It was the consensus of the KENAI CEMETERY COMMITTEE Septembe~ 4, 1984 Page 4 Committee that maps and provide the continuity necessary whether or not the cemetery is run by the City. Councilwoman Bailie noted that the Clty has a newly organized Beautification Committee which is now under the Parks & Recreation Department and may stay there, but at the same time, the cemetery could easily fall into its jurisdiction. 3ohn stated that Sitka and Ketchikan ran a poll or survey in the paper asking what the community wants and received a good response, the Committee agreed this would be a desirable approach. It was also agreed that if the cemetery should be turned over to a non-profit organization, it still has to be set up first. The next ~eetin~ will be called upon receipt of the information =eques~ed: Plat of cemetery Report of survey of other cities having like population - Bill Brighton Taken f]~om Tape 3anet Lope~ SeCretary