(a) Where the body of the deceased is not claimed by a relative, significant other, interested party or any other authority chargeable by law with the duty of disposal of the remains, the City shall contract with a local funeral director to arrange the burial or cremation of the remains within the following guidelines:
(1) In accordance with Ohio R.C. 1713.3, the funeral director under contract with the City shall notify the secretary of the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors that the City is in possession of an unclaimed and unidentified body. If within 36 hours an application in compliance with Ohio R.C. 1713.34 is received, the Funeral Director shall cause the remains to be delivered to the applying party, and the expense shall be borne by the party in whose keeping the body was placed.
(2) If no application in compliance with Ohio R.C. 1713.34 is received, the funeral director under contract shall send a request for burial or cremation to the Clerk of Geneva Union Cemeteries. Said request shall include:
A. Financial information available on the decedent;
B. Names of any known relatives; and
C. Indigent certification.
(b) Where the body of the deceased is claimed by a person unable to defray the cost of such internment or cremation, thereby qualifying the deceased as indigent, the funeral director shall proceed as delineated in division (a)(2) of this section.
(c) If a determination is made to cremate the remains of the deceased, after cremation, the ashes shall, in descending order of priority, be provided to the following persons:
(1) The spouse of the decedent at the time of the decedent's death;
(2) Any person acting on the instructions of a decedent who authorized the decedent's own cremation;
(3) A person serving as the executor or legal representative of the decedent's estate who acted in accordance with the decedent's instructions for the final disposition of the decedent's body;
(4) The decedent's surviving adult children;
(5) The decedent's surviving parent or, if the decedent was under 18 years of age at death, a surviving parent or the guardian or custodian of the decedent;
(6) The person in the next degree of kinship to the decedent in the order named in Ohio R.C. 2105.06 to inherit the estate of the decedent if the decedent had died intestate;
(7) In the absence of any of the parties named in divisions (c)(1) through (6) of this section, any person willing to assume the responsibility; and
(8) If the decedent was an indigent person or other person the final disposition of whose body is the responsibility of the City, the City Manager shall be responsible for arranging the final disposition of the decedent's ashes. The City Manager shall arrange for the scattering of the decedent's ashes in a lawful and respectful manner.
(Ord. 2814. Passed 9-8-03.)