Chapter 7
Cemetery*
*As to power of City with respect to cemetery, see U.C.A., 1953, Section 10-8-62.
Sections:
Section 7-1. Definitions.
Sexton: The term "Sexton" shall mean the appointed keeper of the cemetery as appointed by the Mayor or with the advice and consent of the City Council, and whose duties are described in this ordinance.
Cemetery: The term "Cemetery" shall mean any cemetery owned and/or maintained by the City for the purpose of receiving the remains of deceased humans.
Lot or grave owner or purchaser: The term "Lot Owner", or "Purchaser" and "Grave Owner", are intended to mean and shall be construed to mean the owner or purchaser of the burial privileges, or the collateral right to the use of any burial lot, evidence by a certificate for a lot or by proved and recognized decent or devise from the original owner.
Lot: The term "Lot" shall include partial lots or single graves in cemeteries by the name of Grantsville City Cemetery.
Perpetual care: Perpetual care is annual care provided by Grantsville City for a burial space for payment to Grantsville City of a specified assessment, and execution of an agreement for perpetual care, which provides that Grantsville City will invest such specified assessment and will thereafter perform or cause to be performed annually upon said burial space an amount of work or labor equal in value to the net annual income from said specified assessment.
Section 7-2. Appointment of Sexton.
There is hereby created the office of City Sexton which office shall be appointed by the Mayor, with the advice and consent of the City Council and subject to confirmation by the City Council.
Section 7-3. Duties of the Sexton.
The City Sexton under the direction of the Mayor and City Council shall have entire control and superintendence of the City Cemetery, and shall perform such other duties in relation to cemeteries as may be hereafter provided by the laws of the State of Utah or by ordinance, order or resolution of the City Council.
The Sexton shall keep in proper repair the enclosure around the said cemetery and prevent its being entered by animals, and so far as practical shall prevent the destruction of or defacing of any tablet or marker placed or erected therein. He shall have charge of a duplicate plat of the cemetery and shall, at the request of any person wishing to purchase any of the lots of parts of lots, point out any of the lots or parts of the lots unoccupied and for sale; and upon the disposal of any lost, or part thereof, shall notify the City Recorder of the fact. After payment of the lot price has been received by the City Treasurer, the City Recorder shall have the duty of preparing a Certificate of Ownership which certificate shall be presented to the Mayor for execution.
It shall be the duty of the City Sexton to perform those duties required by law and this ordinance, and to remove floral pieces or displays left on any grave as he deems it necessary to the appearance of the cemetery, but such floral pieces or displays shall not be moved sooner than five (5) days after original placement except in an emergency.
It shall be the duty of the City Sexton to see that the owners of lots within the cemetery obey all rules and regulations made by the City Council in regard to the care of said lots and in regard to the erection of fences or other obstructions and to enforce all other regulations herein provided; he shall keep the streets, alleys, walks and avenues in said cemetery in good order and unobstructed, so that every access can be had to any lot; he shall supervise the placing of markers, and if any person shall fail to comply with this ordinance, or rule or resolution passed pursuant thereto, or the instructions of the Sexton, the Sexton shall make the necessary corrections at the expense of the person owning or interring in said lot.
Whenever title to purchase lots reverts to the City, as provided in Section 7-15, and before new certificates are issued covering said property, the original certificate shall be cancelled, a new certificate give, and the record so changed by the City Recorder and Sexton.
The City Sexton is hereby empowered, with the approval of the Mayor and the City Council, to make and enforce such other reasonable rules and regulations for the proper care and protection of the cemetery not in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance. (Ordinance number 68-2-17).
Section 7-4. Information to be obtained by Sexton before interment.
The City Recorder of Grantsville City, Utah, shall be the registrar of burials for Grantsville City, and before burying any deceased person in any City owned cemetery within the corporate limits of said City, or before disinterring for transportation beyond the corporate limits of said City, the body of any person who has been buried therein, the relatives or other persons having charge of said body shall be required to furnish in writing to said Recorder, a statement of said death, which shall be recorded in a record kept for that purpose by said Recorder. Such statements as well as the record shall include the name of the person deceased, when and where born, if known, the date of death and the cause thereof, together with the name of the attending physician, coroner or mid-wife, if any and the date of burial as well as the number of the block or low where said person is buried, and the place of destination if disinterred and transferred beyond the limits of Grantsville City Cemetery. (Ordinance number 68-2-16).
Section 7-5. Permits, disinterment, and contagious disease.
It shall be unlawful for any person to bury the body of a deceased person in the Grantsville City Cemetery without first paying for and obtaining, as herein provided, a certificate of purchase of the lot used; or if he does not own or purchase the lot, without furnishing a written permit from the owner or legal representative of the owner thereof, which permit shall be filed with the Grantsville City Recorder. It shall be unlawful for any person to disinter any body buried in said cemetery, or in any other cemetery within the limits of the City of Grantsville except under the direction of the Grantsville City Sexton; and before disinterment of any body, the Grantsville City Sexton shall require a permit from the Health officer and a written order from the owner of the lot, authorizing such removal, which order shall be filed and preserved, and all such removals shall be recorded in a book kept for that purpose. It shall be unlawful for any person to remove the body of a person who has died from contagious disease within two (2) years from the date of burial, except when such a body has been buried in a hermetically sealed coffin and is found to be so incase.
Section 7-6. Sale of lots.
The City Recorder and City Council are hereby empowered to sell lots in the Grantsville City Cemetery, at the rate prescribed from time to time by the Council, and to collect, before use of the lots, all amounts arising from such sales. All money so collected shall be remitted promptly to the City Treasurer. The City Recorder shall thereupon deliver to each purchaser a certificate of purchase for each lot or part of a lot so purchased, showing the name and address of the purchaser, a description of the lot and stating the price thereof. Such certificate shall also provide that future perpetual care and maintenance has or has not been paid for such lot. The Recorder shall keep and maintain duplicates of each certificate issued as a part of the official records of the City. Part of lots shall be sold only in the plats that shall from time to time be designated by the Council or someone authorized by the Council. Persons who have purchased a lot certificate may transfer or devise said lot to another individual, but shall remain legally responsible for all lot maintenance fees or other assessments levied against said lot until the transfer or devise has been registered with the City Recorder. Any transfer of a lot between individuals shall be registered within the City Recorder within sixty (60) days of such a transfer. The original certificate of purchase together with written evidence of said transfer device or inheritance shall be provided upon forms prepared and approved by the City Recorder. The City Recorder shall acknowledge such transfer by a notation on the transfer document which documents will then represent evidence of ownership of the applicable cemetery lot or lots. All unpaid fees or assessments on a cemetery lot shall be paid prior to the recorder registering a transfer of a said lot.
(i) Purchase price $100.00
(ii) Perpetual care and maintenance fee, also to be collected at the time of initial purchase $190.00
(i) Purchase price $300.00
(ii) Perpetual care and maintenance fee, also to be collected at the time of initial purchase $200.00
*Adopted and passed by the council of Grantsville City, May 16, 2001. Ordinance 2001-07
Section 7-7. Sale subject to rules.
Every lot or single grave sold is subject to rules and regulations that may hereafter be adopted, and subject to such changes of the present rules as are found necessary for the protection of lot owners and remains of the dead. (Ordinance number 68-2-8).
Section 7-8. Opening of graves.
The Sexton shall, without delay, open any graves in said cemetery upon application to him being made by the City Recorder or by any person having the right to make such application. The Sexton shall superintend every interment and shall fill up and neatly trim the grave immediately after depositing the coffin and shall fill up and neatly trim all graves that have settled or may hereafter settle. He shall register the names, ages, parentage, and place of birth, if known, of all persons interred therein, the place of their interment, the cause of death, and the name of the attending physician, nurse, coroner, or mid-wife. (Ordinance number 68-2-18).
Section 7-9. Vaults required.
It shall be unlawful for any person to be buried in the Grantsville City Cemetery unless the casket shall be placed in a concrete, steel, brick or wood lined vault substantially constructed and covered with a substantial concrete, steel or wood top or lid. (Ordinance number 68-2-7).
Section 7-10. Right of entry reserved.
The City reserves the right to enter upon any grave and to perform all work necessary for the care and upkeep of all lots and graves in said cemeteries. (Ordinance number 68-2-9).
Section 7-11. Prohibited interments.
There shall be no interment of anything other than the remains of human bodies in the City Cemetery and no interment of any deceased human shall be made in any other place than within cemeteries devoted to that purpose, and it shall be unlawful to bury the body of any person within the limits of Grantsville City, except in public or private cemeteries located therein, unless by special permission of the Grantsville City Council, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed therefor. (Ordinance number 68-2-6).
Section 7-12. When body must be delivered for interment; interment on Sunday.
During May, June, July, August and September, remains must be delivered at the cemetery at or before five p.m. for interment if the grave is to be filled in with the earth the same day. The remaining part of the year, remains must be delivered at the cemetery at or before four p.m. for interment if the grave is to be filled in with earth the same day. No remains will be received at the cemetery during the first day of the week, Sunday.
Section 7-13. Placement of markers.
Permanent identification markers or headstones shall be required at all burial sites, including inurnments and at infant graves. The owner of a burial space or other person requesting a burial, shall be responsible for the installation of a marker and if not installed within 12 months of a burial, the City may install such a marker and recover the costs of such installation from the responsible party. Temporary markers will be supplied by the City and shall remain on the gravesite until such time as a permanent marker is installed. Any marker located between a regular space shall be a flat marker.*
*Amended 10-7-87 by ordinance 87-07.
Section 7-14. Raised markers.
In those areas reserved for raised markers, such markers may be placed under the same conditions as are required for flush markers, except that the foundation for raised markers shall be eight (8) inches deep or deeper. Raised markers shall have a cement lawn strip not less than six (6) inches wide around the base of such marker, and shall not exceed thirty-six (36) inches in height above the lawn. (Ordinance number 68-2-23).
Section 7-15. Maintenance fees.
Grantsville City shall have the right, option and privilege to receive, for the yearly care and maintenance of a cemetery lot or portion thereof, an annual maintenance fee as may from time to time be adopted by resolution of the Grantsville City Council, from all persons now owning or who may own a cemetery lot or portion thereof. When maintenance care for any lot in said cemeteries or portion thereof has not been paid for a period of five (5) years, then, and in such event, the unused portion of said lot shall thereafter escheat to Grantsville City and title thereof shall revert to Grantsville City, and Grantsville City shall thereafter cancel the certificate to said lot of part thereof, and shall have the right, option and privilege to sell and dispose of said unused cemetery property as in the ordinance provided. (Ordinance number 68-2-23).
Section 7-16. Collection of fees.
The city treasurer is hereby authorized and required to collect in advance, prices and/or fees, as set forth from time to time by the City Council of Grantsville City, for the opening and closing of graves. Said costs and fees shall include properly restoring and trimming such graves, disinterring bodies and properly restoring the earth and grounds, recording each burial, disinterment, or removal, and other services rendered as the City Council by resolution may from time to time deem just and proper. (Ordinance number 68-2-24).
Section 7-17. Maintenance by City.
The city shall provide the care of the cemetery generally, which shall include, but is not limited to mowing of all lots and graves at reasonable intervals, also resodding, seeding and filling in sunken graves, sodding of the surface of graves to lot level, removing dead flowers and trimming trees and shrubbery when necessary, raking and cleaning the lots, but shall not include repair or replacement of markers memorial structures of an nature, except when the need for repair or replacement is directly caused by Grantsville City. (Ordinance number 68-2-25).
Section 7-18. Trees, shrubs, fences, foot markers, etc.
It shall be unlawful for any person to plant, place, maintain or cause to be planted, placed or maintained in the city cemetery any trees, shrubs, flowers, brushes, fences, foot headstone or marker. Any such obstructions in the cemetery shall be removed under the direction of the cemetery superintendent.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit the planting and maintaining to of trees, shrubs, flowers, bushes, fences and other installations by the cemetery superintendent in his official capacity.
Section 7-19. Cemetery hours.
No person shall visit the cemetery between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. without the previous consent of the cemetery superintendent.
Section 7-20. Children.
Children under the age of sixteen (16) years shall not be allowed in cemeteries unless accompanied by their parents or other adults, except for attending authorized funerals or in he company of adults placing flowers on the grave of a deceased relative or friend or performing any other customary evidence of respect in accordance with their principles. (Ordinance number 68-2-13).
Section 7-21. Animals prohibited.
No animal shall be allowed in any cemetery except in the confines of a vehicle and must at all times be retained within the confines of said vehicle remains in the cemetery. (Ordinance number 68-2-14).
Section 7-22. Decorum.
All persons visiting the Grantsville City Cemetery shall strictly observe the decorum due cemetery grounds which has been devoted to the interment and repose of the dead. (Ordinance number 68-2-15).
Section 7-23. Traffic ordinances.
The provisions of the City Traffic Ordinances relative to the operation of vehicles and the conduct of pedestrians shall be in effect in the city cemetery, except as herein otherwise modified by this ordinance. (Ordinance number 68-2-11).
Section 7-24. Orders and responsibilities.
Under no circumstances will the City assume responsibilities for errors in opening graves when orders are given by telephone. (Ordinance number 68-2-10).
Section 7-25. Interment of indigents.
The Grantsville City Council with the advice of the Mayor may designate a portion of the City Cemetery to the burial of indigents. Whenever it is made to appear to the Mayor by proof submitted to him by the Recorder that any person who has died does not have an estate sufficient to pay the purchase price of a lot in the City Cemetery, and the nearest relative or representative of such deceased person desires to have the body of such deceased interred in said cemetery, the Mayor may grant burial space of such deceased person at the request made to his by the Recorder and the Sexton. The mayor shall give report of his decision, whether affirmative or negative, to the City Council, at their next regular meeting. All strangers without funds or other persons who may die in the city may be accorded the privileges granted herein. (Ordinance number 68-1-26).
Section 7-26. Religious and fraternal preferences.
The City Council may contract with religious and fraternal organizations to designate a reasonable portion of any cemetery in which burials may be restricted to the members of such religious and fraternal organizations and their families. (Ordinance number 68-2-5).
Section 7-27. Private additions to cemetery grounds.
It shall be unlawful for any person to erect or maintain any fence, corner post, coping hedge or boundary of any kind upon any lot or lots, street, alley or walk in said cemetery, or grade the ground or land thereof. The sexton shall, whenever required, furnish the true lines of any lots according to official survey, and shall prevent and prohibit any marking of the same save and except by official landmarks, and shall prevent and prohibit any grading thereof that might destroy or interfere with the general slope of the land. It shall be unlawful for any person to plant any shrubs, trees, lawns, etc. or place any monument or marker upon any lot or lots in said cemetery, without a written permit first having been obtained from the City Sexton, and unless the same is done under the direction and supervision of the City Sexton. (Ordinance number 68-2-19).
Section 7-28. Fees for opening graves, disinterment, and moving headstones.
The following fees shall be charged and collected by authorized City employees for the specified performed at the cemetery.
1. Purchase of Right to Use Burial Space:
a. Single lot Resident $290.00
b. Single lot Non-Resident $500.00
c. Infant Lot (under 2years) Resident, ½ regular lot $145.00
d. Infant Lot – Non-resident $250.00
e. Cremation Lot Resident (1/2 regular lot) $145.00
2. Disinterment:
a. With Vault $300.00
b. Without Vault $500.00
c. Disinterment of Cremation $ 75.00
3. Opening and clsoing of New Grave Sites:
a. Weekdays ………….…………………………………………….$150.00
b. Saturdays, Sundays or Holidays ……………….………………..$300.00
c. Infant grave sites Weekdays ……………………………..…$ 75.00
d. Infant grave sites Weekends and Holidays …………………$100.00
(Resolution adopted Nov 2003)
Section 7-29. Penalty.
Any person violating any provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and unless a different penalty shall be provided for such violation by the ordinance, such violation shall be punished by a fine in any sum not exceeding two hundred ninety-nine dollars ($299.00), or by imprisonment for a period not exceeding thirty (30) days, or by both fine and imprisonment. (Ordinance number 68-2-29).
Section 7-30. Perpetual care required.
The right to use burial spaces within the Grantsville City Cemetery shall be sold by the City for the costs and fees as established by Resolution of the City Council. The City Council shall adopt appropriate costs and fees and amend the same, when necessary by Resolution. (amended November 2003)
Section 7-31. Inurnments.
The sexton, with the consent of the City Council, may designate special areas within the cemetery for the purpose of burial of cremains. Spaces designated for the purpose shall be two feet by two feet in size. Identification markers shall be required for all inurnment sites, which shall be flat and no wider that 18 inches. The City will provide temporary markers until a permanent marker is installed. The fee to use inurnment sites shall be established by Resolution of the City Council. Burial of cremains upon existing grave sites may be allowed with approval of the sexton and owner of the space, which shall not require an additional fee except for the opening and closing of the inurnment site.
(amended Nov 2003).
Section 7-32. Infant burials.
The sexton, with the consent of the City Council, may designate special areas within the cemetery for the purpose of burial of infants (children under 2 years of age). Spaces designated for this purpose shall be one half the size of regular spaces. Identification markers shall be required for all infant burial sites, which shall be flat and no wider than 18 inches. The City will provide temporary markers until a permanent marker is installed. The right to use infant burial sites one-half the size of regular burial sites shall be sold for a fee established by Resolution of the City Council. Two infants may also be buried in one regular cemetery space with the permission of the owner of the space. (amended Nov. 2003)
UPDATED 10/04