ORDINANCE 2024.02
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND RESTATING IN ITS ENTIRETY SECTION 7, CHAPTER 7, TITLE 7 OF THE TOQUERVILLE CITY CODE TO DEFINE THE DUTIES OF THE CITY CEMETERY CLERK AND REVISE THE PROCESS FOR BURIAL OF INDIGENTS.
RECITALS
WHEREAS Toquerville City (“the City”) is a Utah municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Utah and as such, holds the delegated police powers under the Utah Constitution to act as the Land Use Authority within its municipal boundaries - with the power to regulate those items set forth in Utah Code Ann. § 10-9a-102(2).
WHEREAS the City, by and through its legislative body, the Toquerville City Council (“City Council”), is required to enact all necessary land use regulations as required by Utah Code Ann. § 10-9a-501.
ORDINANCE
NOW THEREFORE, be it ordained by the City Council of Toquerville City, State of Utah as follows:
1. AMENDMENT AND RESTATEMENT OF SECTION 7, CHAPTER 7, TITLE 7 OF THE TOQUERVILLE CITY CODE. Sections: 3 (Cemetery Superintendent), 4 (Fees And Charges), 5 (Sale of Burial Rights), 6 (Regulation of Cemetery and Burials), and 8 (Burial of Indigents) of Chapter 7 (Cemetery) of Title 7 (Public Ways and Property) of the Toquerville City Code is hereby amended and restated in its entirety as follows:
7-7-3: CEMETERY SUPERINTENDENT:
A. Created: There is hereby created the position of Cemetery Superintendent.
B. Duties: The Cemetery Superintendent shall have the general supervision and administration of the cemetery, including, but not limited to:
1. Recommending to the City Council such additional rules and regulations as may be necessary for the operation, maintenance, use and protection of the cemetery.
2. Subdividing the cemetery into plots for gravesites.
3. Maintaining a record of the location of the graves and preventing any plot from being used beyond its capacity.
4. Keeping in proper repair the enclosure around the cemetery and preventing it being entered by noxious animals and, so far as practical, preventing the destruction or defacing of any tablet or marker placed or erected therein.
5. Keeping a duplicate plat of the cemetery and, at the request of any person wishing to purchase of a Burial Right for any of the plots or parts of plots, pointing out any of the plots or parts of plots for sale; and, upon disposal of any plots or part thereof, notifying the City Cemetery Clerk of such fact. The City Cemetery Clerk shall, after payment of the purchase price for the Burial Right has been received by the City Treasurer, issue a certificate of burial rights, which shall describe the plot to which the right to burial is granted. The certificate shall be signed by the Cemetery Superintendent and the City Recorder.
6. Opening any graves in the cemetery upon application to the Cemetery Superintendent being made by the City Cemetery Clerk or by any person having the right to make such application and being responsible for closing all graves.
7. Removal of floral pieces or displays left on any grave as deemed necessary to the appearance of the cemetery. Removal of decorations will be subject to the City’s current cemetery policy.
8. Keeping the streets, alleys, walks and avenues in the cemetery in good order and unobstructed.
9. Erecting a suitable marker firmly set upon the northwest corner of each lot section, with the number of the plot inscribed thereon and which location shall be shown on the cemetery records. (1977 Code § 8-212; amd. Ord. 2021.24, 10-20-2021; Ord. 2023.14, 6-21-2023)
7-7-4: FEES AND CHARGES:
A. Collection Of Fees: The City Cemetery Clerk, and such other persons as the City Council may designate, are hereby authorized and required to collect prices and fees for the opening and closing of graves or other services which shall include, but not be limited to, properly disinterring bodies and properly restoring the earth and grounds, recording each burial, disinterment or removal, and raised monument privileges. The fees shall be such amounts as are determined by the City Council (with input from the Cemetery Superintendent) from time to time as listed on the City’s uniform fee schedule.
B. Fee To Be Paid For Opening Grave: No grave shall be opened in the city cemetery until payment of a fee for the labor and expense in so opening the grave shall be paid. The presentation of a receipt from the City Cemetery Clerk or person designated by the City Council when presented to the Cemetery Superintendent in addition to a death certificate or a vital statistics sheet, shall be authority to open a grave for the burial of a deceased person.
C. Purchase Price And Fees: The City Council shall from time to time fix the size of Plots, the price at which Burial Rights shall be sold and the fees which shall be charged for the various cemetery services to be provided as listed on the City’s uniform fee schedule. (1977 Code § 8-243; amd. 2014 Code; Ord. 2021.24, 10-20-2021; Ord. 2023.14, 6-21-2023)
7-7-5: SALE OF BURIAL RIGHTS:
A. Procedure For Sale Of Burial Rights:
1. The City Cemetery Clerk, and such other person as the City Council may designate, are hereby authorized to sell the Burial Right for use of Plots in a cemetery owned by the City for burial purposes only and to collect all sums arising from the sale. The City Cemetery Clerk shall keep a complete record of all sales, which record shall describe the location of the plot purchased and the price paid therefore. The City Cemetery Clerk or designated person shall deliver to each purchaser a certificate of burial rights for each Plot purchased, which certificate shall, among other things, describe the location of the plot and the purchase price.
2. A certificate of Burial Rights to burial shall be exempt from execution, taxation or assessment for care and maintenance from and after full payment of the purchase price.
3. “Perpetual Care” also known as prepaid continued maintenance shall be deemed to include the placing of topsoil upon the grave, seeding the grave with grass, and watering and cutting the grass. No other services are included.
4. No other improvements, changes or service, except perpetual care, shall be made on any plot without the certificate holder or his/her heirs first submitting to and receiving from the Cemetery Superintendent, written approval for such improvements, changes or
services, which improvements, changes or services shall be subject to the rules and regulations promulgated by the City Council.
B. Restrictions Of Resale:
1. From and after January 1, 1978, the plots sold by the City shall not be further sold, transferred, conveyed or assigned to any person, except by the City. The City hereby agrees to buy back any plot which it may hereafter sell. The repurchase of such plots shall be for the original price paid by the purchaser, or the current selling price of the plot, whichever is less.
2. Whenever a certificate to burial rights or plot reverts to the City, as provided for in this subsection, or becomes vested in the City for any reason, before new certificates are issued, the original certificate shall be canceled or an assignment given, and the record shall be so changed.
3. The certificate to Burial Rights shall be issued and signed by the Cemetery Superintendent and shall be attested by the City Recorder. All Plots or parts of Plots, as provided in this subsection, together with all improvements, shall be exempt from execution and from taxation and assessment for care and maintenance charges from and after said payment.
C. Unused Plots: If a Plot or Plots remain unused after sixty (60) years from date of purchase, the City may initiate procedures in compliance with chapter 5, title 8 of the Utah Code to reclaim burial rights previously granted on a Plot. (1977 Code § 8-252; amd. Ord. 2021.24, 10-20-2021; Ord. 2023.14, 6-21-2023)
7-7-6: REGULATION OF CEMETERY AND BURIALS:
A. Burials: Before any deceased person is buried in a cemetery within the City, a death certificate properly issued by the Utah Bureau of Vital Statistics shall be required by the Cemetery Superintendent. After burial, the City Cemetery Clerk shall endorse upon the permit a description of the location where the deceased is buried and shall enter all of the information contained in the permit in the cemetery records.
B. Burial Permit Required: It shall be unlawful lfor any person to bury the body of a deceased person in a cemetery within the City without first obtaining a certificate of Burial Right for the Plot used or producing satisfactory evidence of a right to burial based on a properly acquired certificate of Burial Right.
C. Registration Of Burials: Before any deceased person may be buried in a cemetery within the City, the relatives or person having charge of the deceased shall provide the City Cemetery Clerk with a written statement which shall be filed by the City Cemetery Clerk, which statement shall contain, if known, information about the deceased regarding his or her name, when and where born, the date and cause of death, the name of the attending physician, date of burial, name of cemetery and the description of the location of the grave.
D. Burials And Disinterment:
1. It is a Class B misdemeanor, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to:
a. Disinter any body buried in any cemetery, except under the direction of the Cemetery Superintendent who shall, before disinterment, require written permission from both the Southwest Health Department and the owner of the Burial Right to the Plot, or his or her heirs, which written authorization shall be filed and preserved in a record kept for such purposes.
b. Disinter or remove the body of a person who has died from a contagious disease within two (2) years after the date of burial, unless the body was buried in a hermetically sealed casket or vault and is found to be so incased at the time of disinterment.
2. It is a Class B Misdemeanor, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, to inter anything other than the remains of human bodies in a Cemetery located within the City.
3. It is a Class B Misdemeanor, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, to bury the body of any person within the municipal boundaries of the City except in a cemetery, unless by special permission of the City Council under such rules and regulations that it may prescribe.
E. Cremations:
1. Any single Plot within the cemetery may occupy multiple cremation urns. Urn burials shall include a placard on the surface above the urn denoting name, birth and death dates of deceased person.
2. Burials eligible with a casket and urn(s) are permitted only in areas of a cemetery designated by the Cemetery Superintendent in the cemetery plat, subject to the following restrictions:
a. A casket cannot be placed above an urn.
b. If an urn is the first, by date, to be placed in a plot, then there can be no casket interred at a later date.
c. Urn burials must comply with the limitations set forth in subsection E.1., above.
d. Urn placement is subject to approval by Cemetery Superintendent.
3. Scattering cremation ashes on a purchased cemetery plot is permitted subject to the approval of the Cemetery Superintendent and placement of identification marker.
F. Vaults Required:
1. Unless in writing waived by the Cemetery Superintendent, it shall be unlawful for any person to lie buried in the cemetery unless the casket shall be placed in a vault made of
concrete or of such other material approved by the City Council, substantially constructed and covered with a similar durable material.
2. No wood shall be used as a permanent part of the construction of any part of the vault.
G. Sale Subject To Rules: Every Burial Right sold is subject to rules and regulations that have been or may be adopted. The rules and regulations shall be subject to such changes as are found necessary for the protection of Burial Right owners, the remains of the dead and the preservation of the cemetery as determined by the City Council, with input from the Cemetery Superintendent.
H. Care Reserved: The City reserves the right to enter upon any plot or gravesite and to perform all work necessary for the care and upkeep of all plots and graves in its cemeteries.
I. Orders And Responsibilities For Errors: Under no circumstances will the City assume responsibilities for errors in opening graves when orders are not given in person with City Staff or the Cemetery Superintendent having the ability to ask questions and verify the accuracy and content of the request.
J. Traffic Rules:
1. The provisions of the City traffic ordinances relative to the operation of vehicles and conduct of pedestrians shall be in effect in the cemetery, except as herein otherwise modified by this chapter.
2. It shall be unlawful for any person to ride or drive within a cemetery owned by the City at a speed greater than five (5) miles per hour.
K. Children: Children under the age of eight (8) years shall not be allowed in cemeteries unless accompanied by their parents or other adults, except for the purposes of attending authorized funerals or, in the company of adults, placing flowers on the grave of a deceased relative or friend, or performing any other customary evidence of respect in accordance with their religious principles.
L. Animals Prohibited: No animal shall be allowed in any cemetery, except in the confines of a vehicle and must be at all times retained within the confines of said vehicle while the vehicle remains in the cemetery.
M. Decorum: Cemetery grounds are sacredly devoted to the interment and repose of the dead. Strict observance of decorum due such a place shall be required of all persons.
N. Injury To Cemetery Property Prohibited:
1. It is a Class B Misdemeanor, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to tie or attempt to tie any horse, animal or motor vehicle to any monument, gravestone, tablet, marker, tree, shrub, fence or enclosure on the premises of cemetery for the purpose of injuring, defacing or attempting the removal of same.
2. It is a Class B Misdemeanor, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to injure, deface, break, destroy or remove any headstone, tombstone, monument, tree, shrub or any other property in a cemetery.
3. It is an infraction, subject to penalty as provided in section 1-4-1 of this code, for any person to erect or maintain any fence, corner post, bench on which to sit, coping or boundary of any kind, to plant any vegetation upon any plot or plots, street, alley or walk in the cemetery, or to grade the ground or land thereof. The Cemetery Superintendent shall, whenever required, furnish the true lines of any plots according to official cemetery plat and corresponding survey, shall prevent and prohibit any markings of the same, except by official landmarks, and shall prevent and prohibit any grading thereof that might destroy or interfere with the general slope of the land.
O. Headstones and Markers: It shall be unlawful for any person to erect, place or cause to be placed any marker or monument on any plot in the cemetery in violation of the rules and regulations promulgated by the City Council regarding the placement, construction and design of all such markers. Specific requirements for headstones and markers are subject to the City’s current cemetery policy.
P. Additional Rules And Regulations:
1. The City Council may promulgate by ordinance such additional rules and regulations concerning the care, use, operation and maintenance of the cemetery as it shall deem necessary.
2. The Cemetery Superintendent may, from time to time as the City Council deems necessary, direct and publish a booklet of rules and regulations for the convenience of the purchasers of plots in City owned cemeteries. Such rules and regulations shall constitute a part of the terms and conditions under which owners and users may utilize the cemetery and shall form a supplement to this chapter after they have been adopted as official by ordinance of the City Council.
3. Toquerville City’s current cemetery policies shall dictate additional rules and regulations. (2014 Code; amd. Ord. 2017.04, 5-11-2017; Ord. 2021.24, 10-20-2021; Ord. 2023.14, 6-21-2023)
2. REPEALER. All ordinances, resolutions and policies of the City, or parts thereof, inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed, but only to the extent of such inconsistency and only for the period of time this Ordinance remains effective. This Repealer shall not be construed as reviving any law, order, resolution or ordinance or part thereof.
3. SEVERABILITY. Should any provision, clause or paragraph of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, in whole or in part, such invalidity shall not affect the other provisions or applications of this Ordinance or the Toquerville City Code to which these amendments apply. The valid part of any provision, clause or paragraph of this Ordinance shall be given independence from the invalid provisions or applications and to this end the parts, sections and subsections of this Ordinance, together with the regulations contained therein, are hereby declared to be severable.
4. EFFECTIVENESS. This Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon approval by the City Council.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED BY THE TOQUERVILLE CITY COUNCIL this 6th day of March 2024, based upon the following vote:
Councilmember: | |||||||||||||||||
Gary Chaves | AYE | ü | NAE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | ||||||||||||
John ‘Chuck’ Williams | AYE | ü | NAE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | ||||||||||||
Joey Campbell | AYE | ü | NAE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | ||||||||||||
Todd Sands | AYE | ü | NAE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | ||||||||||||
Wayne Olsen | AYE | ü | NAE | ABSTAIN | ABSENT | ||||||||||||
TOQUERVILLE CITY
a Utah Municipal Corporation Attest:
Justin Sip, Toquerville City Mayor Daisy Fuentes, Toquerville City Recorder