(A) After the effective date of this chapter, cemetery plots shall be sold by the township for the purpose of burial for the purchaser of a cemetery plot, or his or her immediate family. No sale shall be made to funeral directors or others, except for those acting as an agent for an eligible purchaser.
(B) All sales and transfers of cemetery plots shall be made on a form approved by the Township Board and signed by the designated township official, which grants a right of burial only and does not convey any other title or right to the cemetery plot or burial space sold. Such forms shall be signed by the Township Clerk or Deputy Clerk, and shall constitute a permit when approved.
(C) Cemetery plots may be sold by the township to any resident or taxpayer of the township. The Township Clerk is hereby granted the authority to vary the aforesaid restriction on sales where the purchaser discloses sufficient personal reason for burial within the township through previous residence in the township or relationship to persons interred in the township cemetery involved. Any such decision by the township (either granting or denying such variance) may be overturned by the Township Board pursuant to § 90.23 hereof.
(D) At the time of purchase from the township, each cemetery plot shall be assigned the name of the specific person who shall be interred in that cemetery plot upon death. Each such person must either be a resident or taxpayer of the township, or be a member of the immediate family of a qualified purchaser. If the owner of a cemetery plot desires to effectuate a name change regarding the assigned cemetery plot, that person must sell the cemetery plot back to the township and repurchase that space in the name of another eligible person, since cemetery plots are otherwise nontransferable.
(E) Cemetery plots are nontransferable, but may be sold back for the original purchase price to the township (for resale by the township).
(F) The Township Board shall have the authority to place a limit on the number of cemetery plots sold to a particular person, as well as such person's family and relatives. Furthermore, the township shall have the absolute right and discretion to determine whether a particular cemetery plot or plots will be sold to a specific person and where such cemetery plot or plots will be located and within which township cemetery. Such decision shall be based upon reasonable factors, including, but not limited, to the number of vacant cemetery plots available and whether family or relatives of the person seeking to purchase a cemetery plot or plots are buried adjacent or nearby the cemetery plot or plots requested.
(G) The township shall have the right to correct any errors that may be made concerning interments, disinterments, or in the description, transfer or conveyance of any cemetery plot, either by canceling the permit for a particular vacant cemetery plot or plots and substituting and conveying in lieu thereof another vacant cemetery plot or plots in a similar location within the cemetery at issue or by refunding the money paid for the cemetery plot or plots to the purchaser or successor of the purchaser, in the event that an error involves the interment of the remains of any person, the township shall have the right to remove and transfer the remains so interred to another cemetery plot in a similar location in the same township cemetery in accordance with law.
(H) The owner of every cemetery plot shall be responsible for notifying the township whenever that person's mailing address changes.
(Ord. 2016-10, passed 7-11-2016)