Oakland Cemetery Commission

Russellville Oakland Cemetery Commission Minutes September 20, 2016 The Russellville Oakland Cemetery Commission met for the regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at 5:30 p.m. in the second floor Conference Room. Attending: Director Stephanie Warwick, City Attorney Trey Smith, Mayor Randy Horton, Chairman Garland Steuber, Commissioner/Secretary Mindy Hudson, Vice-Chairman/Commissioner David Lee, Commissioner Rebecca Howell, Commissioner Donna Eubanks, Commissioner Patricia Petray, City Council Liaison Eric Westcott, visitor Sean Ingram from the Courier, and visitor Cindy Hlass. Absent: Commissioner Anna Fields and Finance Director Jerry McKaughan. Chairman Garland Steuber called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Old Business: The First Order of Business was to review and approve the minutes from the July 19, 2016, Cemetery Commission Regular Meeting. This had been held over from the previous meeting because of a lack of a quorum. Liaison Westcott made the motion to approve, which was seconded by Commissioner Eubanks. The motion passed unanimously. The Second Order of Business was to approve the minutes from the August 16, 2016, Cemetery Commission Regular Meeting. Commissioner Eubanks made a motion to approve the minutes with a correction of the spelling of one name. The motion was seconded by Liaison Westcott and was unanimously approved. The Third Order of Business was the monthly financial report. Finance Director Jerry McKaughan was absent. No report was given. The Fourth Order of Business was the monthly Operations Report. 1. Overall operations have been normal the past month. 2. The mowing crew broke a couple of items on a grave, which upset the family. Director Warwick has taken care of the situation. 3. Plans are going forward for the Fall Fest parade on October 29 at about 5:10 PM, to celebrate the Day of the Dead. This is part of the Latino Art Project. Director Warwick is working with Jeannie Stone on this and is putting together a small pamphlet about the cemetery and the commission. She will also serve as one of the tour guides. 4. The cloud program “Grave Discover” is up and running, although there are still some issues to be resolved. The public can find this at https://gravediscover.com/oakland-cemetery. She is working on mapping and uploading photos for the program, which will take some months, as there are nearly 5,000 graves. There is room for two pictures and two documents per person. 5. There will be a feature story about the cemetery in the upcoming October edition of About Magazine. The Fifth Order of Business was to discuss the search for new commissioners to fill upcoming vacancies. Ms. Cindy Hlass attended the meeting and was introduced to the commissioners as a potential candidate. The mayor will elect and the city council will approve new members of the commission. Dr. Kathy Baker removed her name from consideration, so the members were asked to help suggest more possibilities. The Sixth Order of Business to open bids for the 2017 mowing of the cemetery was removed from the agenda. Our board will make a recommendation and the city council will make a decision. The Finance Director has had five bids turned in. New Business: The First Order of New Business was a discussion about completion of sidewalks and roadways in the new Memorial Gardens Addition. Chairman Steuber reported that he had talked to Kurt Jones, who came up with a rough estimate of $18,500 to finish the sidewalks and roadway that we have in the complete plans. According to the Finance Director, we have only $20,000 unallocated in our budget. Rather than depleting the budget, Chairman Steuber suggested we just complete the sidewalk for the Columbarium and a small portion of the road. This way money would remain to complete some landscaping. Liaison Westcott requested that we see prices for both the partial and the complete jobs. The Mayor stated he would ask Mr. Jones to draw these up. A motion was made by Vice Chairman Lee to have this drawn up for the Commission to consider. Commissioner Eubanks seconded the motion. Chairman Steuber requested that we have an extra meeting before next month, as soon as we can see the estimates. The Second Order of New Business was a discussion requested from Chairman Steuber and Director Warwick about trimming or removing a tree close to the Columbarium. Secretary Hudson provided pictures of the tree and suggested it was not a threat to the structure since it leans the other direction. She suggested approving the removal of the sucker tree and vines, along with some judicial pruning. Liaison Westcott made the motion to do this suggestion, with a second from Vice Chairman Lee. The motion passed unanimously. Chairman Steuber stated he would check with City Corp about water possibilities near where we will landscape. The meeting was adjourned by Chairman Steuber at 6:25 PM.