Clearwater Cemetery District

CLEARWATER CEMETERY DISTRICT Clearwater Cemetery District Board Meeting December 12, 2024 6:30 PM, City Hall 1. Call to Order Board Chair Erwin called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call Tim Erwin, Ninnescah Township, David Loos, Ohio Township, and Burt Ussery, Mayor of Clearwater were present. Others present: Courtney Zollinger, City Administrator. 3. Approval of Agenda MOTION: Erwin moved, Ussery seconded to approve the agenda as presented. Voted and passed unanimously. 3-0 4. Consent Agenda a. Minutes 11/14/2024 b. November Accounts Payable c. November Receipt Report d. December Payroll MOTION: Erwin moved, Loos seconded to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed unanimously. 3-0 5. Reports • Zollinger stated that we have been notified that the software the Cemetery District invested in a few years ago will have an End of Life as of 12/31/2025. We have been looking at other options and there will be a demonstration at the meeting at 6:45pm with Lazarus • 91.6% through the year. Revenues are 96% and Expenditures are 34.6%. If you take out the “reserve” amount your expenditures are at 101.69%. This is because part of the “reserve” was used to install the new fence. • CVI created ruts in the cemetery but let us know they are willing to pay for the damages. Garretson was contracted to repair them. As soon as an invoice is received from Garretson the Cemetery will invoice CVI for reimbursement, • There was 1 headstone marking and 2 burials in November. 6. Business a. Cemetery Software Demonstration - Lazarus Eli Lubbenhusen gave a demonstration of the web based cemetery software, Lazarus. Lazarus is Cemify product that maps the cemetery with images and and CLEARWATER CEMETERY DISTRICT plot descriptions of burials that can be viewed by people who want to visit one of the districts cemeteries. Lazarus will come to Clearwater, use a drone to take images, and walk the cemetery and notate all the headstones and photograph them for inventory on the site. The software records real-time sales and burials to view the information easily. It also has a walk to feature that people can use to guide them to a specific headstone within the cemetery. Lazarus’ proposal is $18,000 for implementation and $699 annually. Currently gWorks costs the Cemetery $1800 annually and does not include any mapping. Lazarus breakdown of charges: Service Fees Travel Fee $1,500 Aerial Mapping Fee $8,250 Data Scanning $0 Database Creation (Transcription) $4,250 Memorial Photography $4,000 Total $18,000 Memorial Photography is optional and can be removed from the proposal to drop to the implementation pricing to $14,000. The annual price is $599 per year for 2,000 plots with unlimited new interments. For each addition 1,000 plots the price will increase by $20 per year. Clearwater has between 6,000 and 7,000 plots with Clearwater, Harrington, Noel, and Ruby. The annual price for Clearwater Cemeteries would be $699 annually until another section is developed and opened up for sale. Implementation time would be 3-4 months. City Staff said they had a demonstration from another company, Chronicle, and the implementation pricing was the same, but the annual price was $3,200. Their annual price was based on how many burials were made in one year. The $3,200 included up to 30 burials. Clearwater typically has less than 20 burials in a year. The database back up can be done as often as the board would like and is part of the service offered. The board discussed and liked the platform Lazarus offered. They decided to wait until January to make a decision and asked if Lazarus would extend the quote until the end of January 2025 b. Whitney Landscaping At the last meeting the board reviewed a 3-year proposal from Whitney Landscaping to mow the Clearwater Cemetery District properties. The pricing is as follows: Clearwater Cemetery ONLY 2025 $34,000 2026 $35,360 2027 $36,774  CLEARWATER CEMETERY DISTRICT ALL Cemeteries 2025 $42,018 2026 $43,698.72 2027 $45,445.94 In 2025 the Board budgeted $71,318.50 for personnel expenses. For 2024 the budget was $57,400 and YTD the expense is $17,919.08. This is because the Board hired Whitney Landscaping to mow the cemeteries in 2024. Total paid to Whitney in 2024 was $33,000. Loos and Erwin stated they wanted to review the equipment the District owns at the same time as considering the Whitney proposal. In 2023 the Cemetery District purchased 3 John Deere mowers (1 in February and 2 in June). Each cost the District $12,547.22 for a total investment of $37,641.66. The District also purchased 3 trimmers (total cost $898.83), One blower ($681.59), one chainsaw ($499.99), and one edger ($289.99). The purchases were made because a theft occurred and all but one mower was stolen (the one purchased in February). The equipment was returned after the new purchases were made and the returned items sold at auction. Insurance paid the claim and once the items were returned to the District the Farm Bureau claimed the property, they reimbursed the District for ($19,045.45) the two mowers (2020 ‘$9800’ and 2022 ‘$10,256’ models). The other point Loos and Erwin wanted to consider is if Whitney would try and hire local people to fill positions because the Cemetery has always hired local high school kids for summer jobs. Whitney stated all his employees are from the Clearwater District and he has always looked locally first. The Board discussed and thought it would be best to keep all equipment for now and would like to see a exit clause within the contract for both parties. MOTION: Loos moved, Ussery seconded to approve a three contract with Whitney Landscaping with a 90 day opt out clause. Voted and passed unanimously. 3-0 7. Cemetery Pricing Park El Paso Greenwood Hillside (Maize) (Derby) (Wichita) (Sedgwick) Mulvane Waco Clearwater Could Not Clearwater Noel/Harrin Open/Close Reach Cemetery gton/Ruby Unknown Weekday $ 400.00 $ 600.00 $ 1,100.00 (Hired) $500.00 $ 550.00 $ 600.00 Unknown Weekend $ 500.00 $ 800.00 $ 1,300.00 (Hired) $500.00 $700-$830 $795-$925 After 1pm add $100 ------------- -------------- ------------- ---------------- Holidays --- --- ---- - $ 960.00 $ 1,055.00  CLEARWATER CEMETERY DISTRICT Memorial Permit Fee $ 25-100 Cremation Unknown Weekday $250.00 $ 350.00 (Hired) $150.00 $ 375.00 $ 475.00 Unknown Weekend $ 450.00 $ 500.00 (Hired) $150.00 $ 375.00 $ 475.00 Single Columbarium $ 1,100.00 Double Columbarium $ 1,400.00 Lot Prices $500- $1,000 In District 1/2 (depends $1,500 a lot $1,200.00 on location space $ 100.00 $400.00 $ 750.00 $ 750.00 Out of District $ $ $1,500 a 1/2 lot - - space $ 500.00 $600.00 $ 1,500.00 $ 1,500.00 Deed/Transfer Fee $ - $ - $ - $ - $ - $ 50.00 $ 50.00 The Board would like to look at pricing from private cemeteries to compare to “out- of-district” pricing. No action taken a. Other Business – Loos brought up the idea of Clearwater Cemetery District helping Ohio Township with the management of Roll Cemetery. With the new proposed cemetery software it would make it easier for tracking and sales of lots. The Board discussed and asked Loos to speak with the Township and come back with a proposal for the Cemetery district to discuss. 8. Executive Session – No Executive Session 9. Comments – No Comments 10. Adjournment With there being no further business MOTION: Erwin moved, Ussery seconded to adjourn the meeting. Voted and passed unanimously. 3-0 Meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.