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September 27, 2008

Oakland Cemetery receives a lot of caring maintenance

By Marsha Mitchell, Centerville mayor

Oakland Cemetery is a perpetual care cemetery. What exactly does that mean? According to Iowa law, a “Perpetual Care Cemetery” is a cemetery which has established an irrevocable trust fund for the maintenance, repair and care of all interment spaces, features, buildings, roadways, parking lots, water supply, and other existing cemetery structures.

Oakland Cemetery is a very large cemetery with around 7,500 graves located there covering approximately 50 acres with room for many more. The City of Centerville owns the cemetery and oversees the care and maintenance of it.

It takes two people working for three days just to get the Cemetery mowed. Then, it has to be gone over once again and trimmed and/or weed-eated. Again using two people, that phase of the maintenance takes another day and a half, for a total of almost a week every ten days or so during the mowing season just to do the mowing and trimming.

Mowing the cemetery is certainly nothing like mowing your yard. It’s difficult to get between the stones with a riding mower and in some cases, it’s impossible. It makes it even more difficult when extra items are placed on the gravesites, like potted plants, shepherd’s hooks, everlasting lights, crosses, rocks, stuffed animals, etc. There’s a little of everything in Oakland Cemetery and we try to be very careful and conscious about how and where we’re mowing. But the more items placed on the graves, the longer it takes, the more difficult it is and the more expensive the cost to take care of the cemetery. And, actually, after a few rains and a little time, so much stuff tends to make the cemetery look cluttered and ill-kept.

The City realizes that there are many beautiful items that can be found to decorate a loved one’s grave and we have no problem with those during the Memorial Day time frame. However, after that time frame has passed, it is necessary to limit the items put down. If individuals want to drill into the foundation of a monument, NOT THE HEADSTONE ITSELF, in order to attach decorative items to the gravesite, we have no problem with that.

The Oakland Cemetery Board and the City Council took action recently to prohibit items being placed on gravesites, on the ground, except during the Memorial Day observance. Since the new regulations regarding this were initiated, we’ve had several people call city hall and complain and they want the city’s permission to leave just one everlasting light or one stuffed animal, for example. Thankfully, most people understand the issues we face with the cemetery, but we need for the public in general to understand that if we allow one, we have to allow others; and then we’re right back to where we started and we’re looking pretty shabby again in our Cemetery in a very short period of time.

We even had one man complain that the cemetery board is only made up of members who have no one buried there, so they don’t care! Nothing could be further from the truth! Even if the board members didn’t have family members buried there, they still care very much about the way our cemetery is kept and how it looks.

We were also criticized because the head of our street department sits in on those meetings. Yes, that’s true; he does sit in on the meetings and that’s because he is the person associated with the city who is responsible for getting the grounds mowed, trimmed and otherwise kept in good condition.

If anyone should be at those meetings, it should be that person, don’t you think?



The Oakland Cemetery Association’s rules and regulations at Rule #6 say “All improvements or alterations of individual property in the Cemetery shall be under the direction of and subject to the consent, satisfaction and approval of the City. Should they be made without the City’s written consent, the City shall have the right to remove, alter or change such improvements or alterations at the expense of the plot owner, or, in the event, at any time in its judgment, they become unsightly to the eye.” Additionally, at Rule #16, it further states “The City will publish in the local newspaper dates that graves may be decorated for Memorial Day and when those decorations need to be removed. During this time, the City is not responsible for those decorations. After the date when decorations are to be removed, the City may at its discretion remove any decorations that have become unsightly or interfere with the upkeep of the cemetery.”

These regulations were put into place years ago and were adopted for very real and specific reasons, as explained above. I once was told that you can tell a lot about a community by the way they take care of their deceased citizens. If a city’s cemetery looks unkempt, it makes one wonder how our living residents are treated.

We may not care about your loved ones who have passed away as much as you do; but we do care passionately. Help us present a beautiful, peaceful and dignified place in which our deceased loved ones will rest. If you have ideas or suggestions on how to keep our cemetery well groomed, please let us know. Thank you.

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So, the question this week is, “Will it stay or will it go?” The United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. wants to close three Farm Service Agency offices in southern Iowa, which includes the FSA office in Centerville, and consolidate the operations in order to save money. Tuesday afternoon a meeting was held at Faith United Methodist Church to allow farmers and other producers who use the Centerville FSA office to make comments about the closing to John R. Whitaker, state executive director Iowa FSA. Many questioned if the meeting Tuesday was necessary because the decision had already been made.

A. Yes, because Washington will listen.
B. No, because the decision to close the Appanoose County FSA office has already been made.
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