Oakland Cemetery Commission

K L A A N D Oakland Cemetery Commission Meeting Agenda Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers Conference Room, 2nd Floor, 203 South Commerce, Russellville, AR 72801 Welcome Welcome new Commissioners: John Harris, Tom Hlass, and Mindy Hudson. Old Business: 1. Review and approve minutes of the May 21, 2013 Cemetery Regular Meeting. 2. Financial Report – Finance Director Jerry McKaughan 3. Discuss the status of the Cemetery Brokerage Account – McKaughan 4. Update on the state license. - McKaughan 5. Report on the possibility of insurance for the Oakland Cemetery McKaughan. 6. Tree Project - An assessment report on the trees at the Oakland Cemetery to be given by Commissioner John Harris. New Business 1. Discuss items not on the agenda. 2. Prepare items for handoff to City Council for its August 15, 2013 Meeting. 3. Elect a Chairman to finish out the 2013 year. Adjourn.  Russellville Oakland Cemetery Commission Minutes July 16, 2013 The Russellville Oakland Cemetery Commission met on Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 5:30 p.m., in the City Hall 2nd-Floor Conference Room at 203 South Commerce, Russellville, Arkansas. Attending were Alderman Steuber (Acting Chair), Mayor Bill Eaton, Finance Director Jerry McKaughan, Director Lequitta A Jones, Commissioner Patricia Petray, Commissioner John Harris, and Commissioner Tom Hlass. Absent: Alderman Richard Harris, Secretary Donna Eubanks, Commissioner Anna Fields, and Commissioner Mindy Hudson. The meeting was called to order by Acting-Chairman Steuber at 5:30 p.m. For record only: Mindy Campbell Hudson’s letter addressed to the commissioners was given to each commissioner in attendance. As follows: 1 2 Old Business: The First Order of Business was to review and approve minutes of the May 21, 2013 Cemetery Regular Meeting. Commissioner John Harris referred to the third order of business where it talks about the brokerage account showing the rate of 25% annual fees. Mr. McKaughan said the rate should be .025%. The minutes were accepted as corrected. The Second Order of Business was the Financial Report by Finance Director Jerry McKaughan. Mr. McKaughan gave the financial report to include the balance sheet and statement of revenue and expenditures and stated both were in order. The Third Order of Business was to discuss the status of the Cemetery Brokerage Account given by Finance Director Jerry McKaughan. Finance Director McKaughan referred to the Charles Schwab Account stated it would no longer be affected by Chapter 12 or John Turberville. Mr. McKaughan said the balance as of 06/30/2013 is $192,936.99. Mr. McKaughan said within the next couple of months the advisor would come and talk to the Commission. Currently, we have $84,754 in cash that needs to be invested. The $84,754 in cash is included in the account balance of $192,936.99. The Fourth Order of Business was an update on the state license given by Finance Director Jerry McKaughan. Acting Chairman Steuber asked Finance Director McKaughan, for the new members, to give the background on the state license. Mr. McKaughan said when we started with the newly purchased section of the cemetery and the possibility of widening Detroit at that time we talked to the state. Later, they came back and said we were a perpetual care cemetery and we are operating a perpetual care cemetery without a state license. It took us a year to get all the information and filings done to become a license perpetual care cemetery. We received our state license in February 2013 and that license is currently posted at the entrance of Drive1. Along with that we have to maintain a perpetual care account, which we have been doing for years. Each commissioner present was given a copy of that account and as of 06/30/2013 the balance of that account was $192,936.99. Mr. McKaughan said at the last or first of this year, we came up with a new management of the cemetery operations of funds when we sell a lot at $750.00, now 80% stays into the cemetery fund to operate the cemetery and 20% goes into the perpetual care account per the specification from the Arkansas Cemetery Board. Acting-Chairman Steuber said up until the state cemetery board got a hold of us the entire amount of sales went into the perpetual care amount. That is where the 3 $191,936 comes from. Mr. Steuber further stated over the past years has been “almost” operated 100% out of General Funds. Mr. Steuber said we have not used the money but for a couple of items. Commissioner Harris asked what’s the definition of perpetual care? The Commission told Mr. Harris they had asked the state cemetery attorney the same question. She said that was a term that had been tossed around for years and that she didn’t know the clear meaning, but she further stated Russellville Oakland Cemetery was a perpetual care cemetery per the law. Mr. Harris said the reason he was looking for a definition to see if we are responsible for the upkeep of the tombstones? The ordinances never refer to the upkeep of the tombstones. The Commission said they really didn’t know the answer. Mr. Harris stated that maintaining the monuments are just a practice that we have done for a number of years. Director Jones said in the past we have maintained the monuments as best we good, but now that we fall under the state guidelines we are not sure if we can use the Trust money to maintain the monuments or not. We have been trying to get into compliance with the state, so now we will need to move forward and see what the state will allow us to spend the money for. Mayor Eaton said the way that he views that “I’m for doing what we are going to do and then let them tell us what we are doing wrong”. Commissioner Hlass said if he remembered correctly homeowner’s policy would cover the monuments at the cemetery. Mr. Hlass said we might want to consider that. The commission said that was a good point, but they are so many families we would never be able to get in contact with and they may not even be any family members living. The Fifth Order of Business was to report on the possibility of insurance for the Oakland Cemetery by Finance Director McKaughan. Mr. McKaughan said he had talked to six (6) insurance companies and they said the same “that we have no vested interest in those tombstones”. Mr. McKaughan said I’m sure individual homeowners’ policy would cover it. The Six Order of Business Tree Project - An assessment report on the trees at the Oakland Cemetery to be given by Commissioner John Harris. Acting Chairman Steuber told Mr. Harris that he could talk about these trees, but if we are going to take any action we need to wait until we have more commissioners present. Mr. Harris agreed and so did the commissioners. Mr. John Harris said he had asked Ms. Pattie Erwin to come to the cemetery to assess the trees and wanted to give an update. Mr. Harris said he didn’t expect to vote 4 because he knew several commissioners wouldn’t be here tonight. He said he thinks there are some other things we have got to decide once we look at this report. This report was given to everyone in attendance. Commissioner Harris explained the following assessment by Patti Erwin, Urban Forestry Coordinator, Certified Arborist #SO118, Arkansas Forestry Commission. Commissioner Harris said Ms. Erwin deals primarily with city and towns. Ms. Erwin is a certified arborist and teaches classes around this area. Mr. Harris said he asked her to come in after the last meeting and do an assessment of three of the trees. Mr. Harris went over the assessment in summary: See Page 5, 6, and 7……. 5 6 7 8 Commissioner Harris further stated that Ms. Erwin said we needed to get a certified arborist to come down and trim the trees. She said they are two kinds of arborist; some that consults and some that consults and/or tree climbers. The tree climbers are the ones that actually climb the trees and cuts and trims. If you go to Arkansas Urban Forestry Website you will find dozens of them. Ms. Erwin gave Mr. Harris a name of one in Fayetteville that said he would come down and do the work, but it wasn’t practical for him to haul the trimmings off. Ms. Erwin said if the trees had been properly pruned we probably wouldn’t have some of these problems now. The commission agreed. Commissioner Hlass asked if all these trees were on city property or individual lots? Mr. Steuber said they are all in the cemetery. Mr. Hlass said if they are on my lot I would be the one making the decision whether to cut them down. Mr. Hlass further stated you wouldn’t be able to do anything with my lot like cutting down a tree. Mr. Hlass said that’s my tombstone and that is my tree, so it wouldn’t be up to us to make that decision if they are on individual lots. Acting-Chairman Steuber said if you want to say that then you could say those are individual lots and let the people take care of them. Mr. Steuber said the city is maintaining the cemetery. Commissioner Hlass said that comes under perpetual care, but I’d have a question cutting down my tree. Acting-Chairman Steuber asked Commissioner Hlass if he thought it would be okay to cut down his grass? Mr. Hlass said that falls under perpetual care. Mr. Hlass further stated he didn’t think the city has the authority to make the decision whether that tree should stay in the ground if it’s on my lot. Director Jones asked Commissioner Hlass who would be responsible for trimming the trees? Commissioner Hlass said that would be left up to the individual lot owners. Mr. Hlass said you wouldn’t come to my house and cut my trees, so why would you go out to the cemetery and cut my tree in my lot? Acting-Chairman Steuber said the city is responsible to maintain the cemetery, but they are not responsible to maintain your house. Commissioner Hlass said this may not be in our jurisdiction to make this decision to cut down trees on people’s properties. Acting-Chairman Steuber said we will have our City Attorney here next meeting and get his opinion. Mr. Steuber said the city could spend this money in this account so much of it per year and when that money is gone then if the city refuses to maintain it any further then the State of Arkansas is going to take it over. So, if we are going to go that route maybe we need to let the state take it over. Commissioner Hlass said I’m just telling you my opinion. If I have a piece of property I had rather the city didn’t make a decision for me in regard to my trees. 9 Commissioner Petray said those trees on a lot branches out and the root system goes out onto other people’s lots. It wouldn’t be just on one person’s lot if would be on several peoples’ lots that would be affected. Commissioner Hlass said if you cut down my tree on my lot- it’s my tree. The people that the roots are on own the roots. Mr. Hlass said he thinks we have a legal problem. That tree belongs to the people that own the lot. Commissioner Harris asked if we do cut a big tree are we going to leave the stump there or if we do grind it what are we going to do with the roots? Are we going to dig the stumps up? Those big magnolias have huge stumps. Mr. Harris said in summary: Mr. King said at our last meeting the trees were healthy and needed some pruning. Gregg Vickers who I had to go over from the forestry service said the same thing that the trees are healthy and need some pruning. Now another person from the forestry department who is the expert of all of the ones that have talked to us gave her report. Mr. Flanders’ report says you probably need to cut them down. Mr. Harris said he feels like most of Mr. Flander’s comments the way they read that conclusion was if we had a bad ice storm that they could fall. We have more people that say that the trees are not dead or hazardous. We have three people that are saying that the trees are probably healthy and could live 10 – 25 years more. That is the dilemma that we are in. I have my opinion, you have an opinion, and I’m trying to be as impartial as I can. Commission Hlass said if the ice storm was one of the issues that would be an easy decision because those trees have been out there for a 100 years with ice storms. Acting-Chairman Steuber asked Commissioner Hlass if one of those trees is on his lot? Mr. Hlass said he didn’t think so. There are 10 – 12 people buried there so they are no more space for trees. Mr. Hlass said if he has a deed for the property you couldn’t cut down my trees, just like in my yard. Mr. Steuber said lets go a little bit further with that train of thought. The city has an ordinance that you can’t plant trees out there now. Do you think you have the right to go plant a tree on your lot? Commissioner Harris said in reading this ordinance it states they don’t encourage planning trees. Director Jones said this commission would need to approve planting any trees, because she would not want to approve it herself. Mr. Harris asked is there an ordinance that says you cannot plant trees? Director Jones said she believes it would be brought before this commission for approval or disapproval. Acting-Chairman Steuber said we didn’t just sit down and decide “hey, we need to cut a bunch of trees”. We had the county extension agent look at those trees. They are pictures where he crawled up in some of those trees and took pictures down in them. And he recommended they be cut down. And this board in the past has talked about this extensive fully. They talked about cabling some of those limbs that were heavy limbs. Quite frankly, when the vote was taken to cut those trees down I wasn’t here. Director Jones said it was a unanimous vote to cut the trees down. 10 Commissioner Petray said it wasn’t because we wanted to cut down trees we voted unanimously because of the information that we got. Commissioner Harris said he thought you got bad information. Commissioner Petray said that was very possible, but we want to protect those monuments. Acting-Chairman Steuber said maybe we need to quit worrying about those tombstones. If one gets broke up haul it off and be done with it or try to get a hold of the family that it belongs to and tell them to take care of it. Commissioner Harris said 20 or 30 years down the road the city is probably going to have to do that or let the state take it over. Mr. Harris asked if a tornado comes through and blows over a whole path of tombstone who’s going to pay for them- the city? Vice-Chairman Steuber said who else is!!! Commissioner Harris said he thinks it is the individual’s responsibility. Mr. Steuber said “I’m going to be honest with you as a taxpayer, I don’t like the idea that the city is in the cemetery business because that is not my family cemetery and it has been maintained with taxpayers’ money for years and years”. Commissioner Harris said maybe the next step was to wait for the next meeting and if we did consider the route of selectively pruning of the trees as the lady has recommended then we would want a cost estimate assessment on it. Then at some point, we need to get a couple of estimates for a certified arborist to see what cost would be to do that. Commissioner Petray asked would the city pay for that? Acting-Chairman Steuber said what he thinks we need to do is spend that money so much ever year in perpetual care and when it is spent the state can take it over. Mrs. Petray said that is not a bad idea at all. Commissioner Hlass said he thinks we need to get a legal opinion before we do anything. Vice-Chairman Steuber said we have had legal opinions. City Attorney Trey Smith has set in these meetings. Commissioner Hlass asked what was his opinion about cutting trees on his property? Mr. Steuber said he didn’t think we have ever asked him that specific question, but he has never voiced any opinion contrary to that but that it is alright. Mr. Hlass said he thinks we have some specifics. Commissioner Hlass said he had no trouble taking care of his own lot. Commissioner Petray told Commissioner Hlass she had about 18 lots and she did not want to take care of her own. She said she wanted the city to take care of her lots like they have been doing. Commissioner Harris said for instants the Russell Family, which the town was named after, are all dead and gone. It is not practical for families to take care of their individual lots. Commissioner Harris said he thinks the contractor that is doing it now should continue. But he thinks we need to get an opinion from the city attorney and then proceed. Mr. Harris said he thinks that some study should be given to Mr. Steuber’s suggestion. If we have almost $200,000 and the city basically pays for the contact labor to maintain it and a few other things how many years would the money last. 11 Acting-Chairman Steuber said at $60,000 a year it would take about three years. Commissioner Harris said if the city would continue to fund just the maintenance and let this fund for perpetual care be used for things like tombstones or tree problems, etc…. then that $200,000 would last for 15 to 30 years. Commissioner Hlass said the people in the detention center could come out and mow. Commissioner Petray said she didn’t think we needed to go there. Commissioner Petray said she would not be on this commission if we were to go there. Acting- Chairman Steuber said he wouldn’t be either. Acting-Chairman Steuber said people complain about everything and you let the grass get tall and they start calling. Mr. Steuber said in his opinion we need to continue with a contractor that can be held responsible and that has insurance. Commissioner Hlass said in his opinion we need to assess yearly the ones we know that we can get a hold of. You can assess me ever year. We need to assess them and mow it for them. Acting-Chairman Steuber said that’s what we have done with this perpetual care. People have been told that they pay this perpetual care and their lots will be maintained. We can’t go back and assess them. Mr. Steuber said he didn’t think the State of Arkansas would let us do that. We will have City Attorney Smith here next month and get his opinion. Commissioner Hlass said he thinks it would be great for the state to take care of it. End of discussion….. New Business The First Order of Business was to discuss items not on the agenda. None. The Second Order of Business was to prepare items for handoff to City Council for its August 15, 2013 Meeting. None. The Third Order of Business was to elect a Chairman to finish out the 2013 year. Tabled until next month. Adjourn at 7:05 12