Chapter 2.70
CEMETERY
Sections:
2.70.010 Established.
2.70.020 Maintenance and improvement.
2.70.030 Board – Membership.
2.70.040 Board – Duties.
2.70.050 Sale of lots.
2.70.060 Assessments for care, upkeep and improvement.
2.70.070 Abandoned lots.
2.70.080 Special care or operating fund established.
2.70.090 Trust fund for endowment care established.
2.70.100 Catholic section – Burial limitation.
2.70.110 Penalties for violations.
2.70.010 Established.
There is established the Enumclaw Evergreen Cemetery, the site thereof to be the present site of the Enumclaw Evergreen Cemetery, at one time operated and maintained by the Evergreen Cemetery Association of Enumclaw, with full power of acquisition of additional land for burial purposes when same is deemed necessary. (1958 Code § 1.52.010).
2.70.020 Maintenance and improvement.
It is the purpose and the policy of the city council to maintain the Enumclaw Evergreen Cemetery as a public burial ground with special care and/or endowment care thereof, and the grave lots therein, and to keep same as a permanent burial tract with grass, shrubs and trees as shall be provided by the city council through the agency of its cemetery board. (1958 Code § 1.52.020).
2.70.030 Board – Membership.
There is a city cemetery board consisting of five members, all of whom shall be appointed by the mayor, and who shall hold office at his pleasure for a term of four years, with the provision that each member currently serving shall serve out existing terms. The members may be appointed by the mayor or from members of the city council, the qualified voters of the city, or freeholders of the city, or residents of the adjacent territory. The majority are to be residents of the city. (Ord. 1729 § 1, 1992; 1958 Code § 1.52.030).
2.70.040 Board – Duties.
It shall be the duty of the cemetery board:
A. To organize and hold meetings at least bimonthly, and immediately thereafter to render a report thereon at the next regular meeting of the city council;
B. To maintain the cemetery in a manner befitting the solemnity of the ground;
C. To make all necessary rules and regulations as may be necessary and/or required relative to monuments, headstones, markers, flowers, grass, trees and shrubs, and/or buildings, that are permitted on the burial grounds;
D. To do and perform every other act, matter and thing, necessary and/or required to be done for the complete performance and maintenance of the care, improvement, operation and solemnity of the grounds. (1958 Code § 1.52.040).
2.70.050 Sale of lots.
A. Any person owning lots in the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, city of Enumclaw, will not be permitted to sell lots except to the city of Enumclaw. The city agrees to purchase the lot at the original purchase price, less the endowment care contribution, or for a minimum of $100.00.
B. Funds received from the sale of lots will be paid to the city clerk/treasurer, who shall keep a record thereof, and who will deposit such portion to the current cemetery fund and will deposit 20 percent of the gross sales price, with a minimum of $5.00 for each lot, to the cemetery endowment care trust fund and such portion thereof to the special care fund as the cemetery board shall from time to time direct, but such proportion to the endowment care trust shall at no time be less than required by statutes of the state as are now in effect or may thereafter be amended. (Ord. 1781 § 2, 1993).
2.70.060 Assessments for care, upkeep and improvement.
A. The city council has power to levy assessments for the care, upkeep and improvement of any lot or plot of ground, such assessment shall not exceed the pro rata rate per lot for the cemetery in general.
B. In the event the name of the owner of the lot assessed cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence, the city council has the power to foreclose such assessments by publication of summons as it is now provided by the laws quieting title in actions against unknown heirs, persons or parties. (1958 Code § 1.52.060).
2.70.070 Abandoned lots.
As provided in the laws of the state, the ownership of or right in or to unoccupied cemetery space in the Enumclaw Evergreen Cemetery shall, upon abandonment, be subject to forfeiture and sale by the city, as having the ownership and/or management of the cemetery, for the purpose of providing for endowment care. The continued failure by an owner to maintain or care for an unoccupied cemetery lot, unoccupied part of lot, unoccupied lots or parts of lot for a period of five years creates and establishes a presumption that same has been abandoned. The city council, through its cemetery board, has the necessary power and authority to take the necessary action for forfeiture and sale of any such lots according to and as provided by law. (1958 Code § 1.52.070).
2.70.080 Special care or operating fund established.
There is established a special care or operating fund for the city cemetery, into which fund shall be placed such money or moneys as may be properly done by law and the direction of the board of directors of the Enumclaw Evergreen Cemetery, and same shall be expended therefrom only upon properly signed and approved vouchers, and warrants drawn thereon, signed by the mayor and countersigned by the city clerk. (1958 Code § 1.52.080).
2.70.090 Trust fund for endowment care established.
A. There is established a cemetery endowment care trust fund.
B. Not less than 10 percent of the gross sale price of each lot, with a minimum of $5.00 for each lot, shall be deposited by the city treasurer in the endowment care trust fund, until such time as the fund is of sufficient amount and size that the revenue received therefrom will provide ample funds for the endowment care and upkeep of the cemetery.
C. That endowment care may be provided for lots heretofore sold to private owners by payment to the city treasurer of such sum as may be determined by the city cemetery board, for each such lot, it being specifically provided that not less than a minimum of $5.00 for each such lot shall be deposited by the city treasurer in the endowment care trust fund, and which funds are subject to the provisions in subsection B of this section.
D. Public donations, endowments, bequests and other funds received by the city for said purposes shall be deposited in the endowment care trust fund.
E. The trust fund shall be kept by the city treasurer and shall be open for public inspection, and audited by such committee as the city council shall from time to time direct.
F. The moneys in the endowment care trust fund shall be invested by the city treasurer, only in municipal, county, school or federal bonds.
G. The principal of the trust shall be kept intact and not diminished, except such principal may be used in the construction of a mausoleum at the cemetery. The interest therefrom shall remain with the cemetery endowment care trust fund and added to the principal amount. One-third of the moneys gained from the mausoleum sales shall be used in the cemetery’s operating budget and the remaining two-thirds of the money gained from sales shall be returned to the endowment fund.
H. The expenditure of interest from the trust fund and also from the current expense fund, or special care or operating fund shall be made only on claims filed with the city clerk, and approved by the chairman of the cemetery board, and on vouchers drawn by the city clerk and paid by the city treasurer, after having been countersigned by the mayor and clerk. (Ord. 2200 § 1, 2003; Ord. 1879 § 1, 1996; 1958 Code § 1.52.090).
2.70.100 Catholic section – Burial limitation.
That so far as is feasible and within the allowance of the law as established by the state of Washington, burials in the Catholic Section of the Enumclaw Evergreen Cemetery shall be designated for people of the Catholic religion and/or non-Catholic spouses and children and conditions as shall be determined by the pastor and/or associate pastor of the Sacred Heart Church, Enumclaw, Washington. (Ord. 1034 § 2, 1971).
2.70.110 Penalties for violations.
Any person, firm or corporation who:
A. Violates any of the provisions of this chapter;
B. Violates any of the rules or regulations adopted by the cemetery board for the beautification, maintenance and/or upkeep of the cemetery;
C. Willfully damages or destroys any tombstone, monument, or marker or willfully damages or destroys any of the cemetery property; or
D. Permits any livestock within the cemetery grounds;
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Each separate act and/or each day of continued violation shall constitute a separate offense. (Ord. 1881 § 1, 1995; Ord. 1406 § 1, 1983; 1958 Code § 1.52.100).