Fairview Cemetery Advisory Board Meeting

City of Bastrop Cemetery Advisory Board Meeting May 24, 2012 4:00 p.m. City Hall Council Chambers 1311 Chestnut Street Bastrop, Texas 78602 I. Call to Order. Chairperson Terry Sanders called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. Board members in attendance were Carl Spooner, Ted Schaefer, Mary Williams, Jerry Woehl and Joel Reed. Staff members attending the meeting were Karla Stovall, Tracy Waldron and Zana Jones. Curtis Ervin arrived at 4:50 p.m. City Manager Mike Talbot was unable to attend the full meeting; however he did present on Agenda Item VII. II. Announcements. Vice-Chairperson Carl Spooner announced that he had been contacted by a retired Highway Patrol Captain who was also a Texas Ranger that is traveling around the state updating Texas Ranger gravesites. Mr. Spooner contacted Ms. Robbie Sanders with the Bastrop County Historical Society for her help in identifying Texas Rangers buried in the cemetery. Ms. Sanders identified 10 names on record with the possibility of two more. Mr. Spooner marked those gravesites with a red flag. The retired Highway Patrol Captain will be back again next week to place the medallions as well as clean the headstones. III. Discussion and possible action of the Cemetery Advisory Board’s April 26, 2012 minutes. (pages 1-2) Ted Schaefer moved to approve the April 26, 2012 minutes as written, seconded by Carl Spooner and carried unanimously. IV. Discussion and possible action on Grant Funds that the Historical Society has for the Fairview Cemetery. Item was tabled at the April 26, 2012 meeting. (page 3) Chairperson Terry Sanders reported that he is still not sure of the situation with these funds. He does not know if these are monies remaining from the grant funds for construction of the gazebo in the cemetery or what. He asked that this item be tabled again and continue to be a recurring item on future meeting agendas until the Historical Society can determine how much funds are available. V. Discussion and possible action on amending the FY 2012 budget. (page 4) Karla Stovall, Chief Financial Officer, requested permission to amend the FY 2012 budget in the event that it is needed to add three additional mowing’s at the cost of $8,319 and the buy back of a cemetery plot at the cost of $605. Chairperson Terry Sanders moved to approve the budget amendments as presented, seconded by Mary Williams and carried unanimously. VI. Discussion and possible action on defining the size of the Memorial site and developing rules and regulations for use of the site. Chairperson Terry Sanders asked that this item be tabled until the next meeting since he and Carl Spooner have not had an opportunity to measure and mark off the proposed Memorial site. Chairperson Sanders and Mr. Spooner will present the site dimensions at the next meeting. Karla Stovall stated the she will have staff research to try and identify cemeteries in the area that possibly have a designated Memorial section in order to obtain their rules and regulations regarding such. VII. Report back from City Manager Mike Talbot on real estate that adjoins Fairview Cemetery available for purchase. Mr. Talbot reported that he is working on the purchase of two tracks of land along State Highway 95 that adjoin the cemetery properties. He has requested an appraisal of the property and a layout to identify the number of lots that will be available. He reported that the asking price is very high. He is in negotiations with the owner. Chairperson Sanders asked if Mr. Talbot knew the zoning of the properties. Mr. Talbot responded that he feels that it is zoned commercial. Mr. Talbot also reported that there is a small parcel of property in the area that he has been unable to identify the owner but will continue working on this. Mr. Talbot also reported that if the negotiations with the property owner are not successful, he will recommend to the City Council condemnation. Carl Spooner asked that Mr. Talbot to check to see if there are any properties on the north side of Cedar Street that are available for sale. VIII. Discussion, consideration and possible action on acknowledgement of Memorial Day Ceremony to be held on May 28, 2012. Karla Stovall provided a copy of the Memorial Day Ceremony program to the Board. There was no discussion on the event. IX. Discussion and possible action on the FY 2013 budget. (page 5) Karla Stovall reported that she believes we will close the fiscal year with the projected amount. She presented the proposed FY 2013 budget. Ms. Stovall has been in discussions with City Manager Mike Talbot on the budget and he has agreed to transfer $15,000 from the general fund to cover the cemetery budget. Carl Spooner commended Ms. Stovall for doing an outstanding job on the budget. Mr. Spooner moved that the proposed FY 2013 budget be approved, seconded by Mary Williams and approved unanimously. X. Public Comment. [ Note: By law, the Board cannot include undertake discussion or take any action on Public Comments received at the meeting, but can: (1) recite Board/City policy on the points raised and/or (2) place items on upcoming agenda for both discussion and action at that upcoming meeting.] There were no public comments. XI. Discussion and possible action on setting dates and times for next Cemetery Advisory Board meeting(s). After discussion, Chairperson Terry Sanders set the next meeting on June 21, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. XII. Discussion and possible action to determine if there are any items a Board Member would like to place on an upcoming Agenda. Discussion was held to include the following item on the next agenda: 1) Discussion and possible action on Grant Funds that the Historical Society has for the Fairview Cemetery. 2) Discussion on the size of the Memorial area and developing rules and regulations for use of the area. 3) Mike Talbot will report back on negotiations of purchasing properties and as to whether there are properties available for purchase on the north side of Cedar Street. XIII. Adjourn. Carl Spooner moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:58 p.m., seconded by Mary Williams and carried unanimously. APPROVED: ATTESTED: ____________________________________ ________________________________ Terry Sanders, Chairperson Mary Williams, Secretary