(a) When the body of a dead person is found within the limits of the Village and such person was not an inmate of a penal, reformatory, benevolent or charitable institution in the State and such body is not claimed by a person for private interment at his own expense or delivered for the purpose of medical and surgical study or dissection in accordance with Ohio R.C. 1713.34, or whenever a claim is made that the Village is liable for the interment or burial expense of any deceased person, the Village Administrator shall refer such claim to the Fulton County Department of Jobs and Family Services for assessment of the legal residence of such deceased person, the financial ability of his or her estate to pay burial expenses, any burial allowances or benefits to which the deceased is entitled and the parties, if any, entitled to the proceeds of any insurance on the life of such decedent, or whether such decedent is entitled to any State assistance.
(b) In the event the Village Administrator finds that the Village is obligated under the provisions of Ohio R.C. 5113.15 to bury such decedent at the expense of the Village or:
(1) That such decedent was a legal resident of the Village at the time of his or her death, and the body is unclaimed for burial; and
(2) That the available facts indicated that the estate of such decedent or insurance proceeds or burial benefits or allowances from any source available for such purpose are insufficient to provide for the burial of such decedent.
The Village Administrator shall certify to the Village Clerk that burial shall be at Village expense. The Village Clerk is hereby authorized to pay fees for services rendered by a funeral director determined by the Village Administrator to be reasonable.
Such expenses include furnishing a casket for adults and children and a burial container for a stillborn infant. In any case in which the Village Administrator finds and certifies as aforesaid the Village Administrator is directed to cause the body of such decedent to be buried in a cemetery in accordance with the cemetery’s rules and regulations.
(c) In the event any person legally authorized to do so requests that the body of any such decedent be buried in a cemetery, upon certification to the Village Clerk by an officer or officers of such cemetery that such decedent has been buried therein and the casket and box or burial container furnished as provided in subsection (b) hereof, the Village Clerk may pay a total amount for services rendered by a funeral director or by such cemetery in connection with the preparation for and burial of such body not to exceed the appropriate amount specified in subsection (b) hereof, which shall include furnishing the casket and wood box or burial container as specified.
(d) In the event it is determined after such burial and the payment of such expenses that such decedents and means, assets, insurance or other benefits or allowances available for the payment of all or part of such expenses including the cost of the lot and charges normally made for the services rendered in such burial, such proceedings shall be taken to recover a portion of the costs and expenses as may be authorized by law.
(e) Before any interments or payments are made pursuant to this Section, the funeral director shall submit the following to the Village Administrator:
(1) Three copies of the statement for the amount requested to be paid by the Village pursuant to subsection (b) hereof;
(2) Two copies of the death certificate and one copy of the burial permit; and
(3) An original certificate of indigence form completed by the next of kin or, if not available, the most knowledgeable individual concerning the affairs of the deceased, for the purpose of determining whether the deceased qualifies to be buried at the Village’s expense pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5101.521. This certificate shall be in a form prescribed by the Village Administrator and shall be completed, signed and witnessed in the Village Clerk’s office or other location designated by the Village Administrator prior to or on the day of burial.
Should it be ascertained, after any payment by the Village pursuant to subsection (b) hereof, that such payment was made for decedent whom the Village did not have the responsibility to bury pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5101.521 the Village shall be entitled to any benefits payable on behalf of such decedent by any person or agency who had the responsibility to pay burial benefits pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5101.521 up to an amount totaling the payment made pursuant to subsection (b) hereof plus the fees for the grave space and the opening and closing.
(Ord. 03-05. Passed 4-21-03; Ord. 22-21. Passed 1-9-23.)