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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-14-2025 Cemetery Board Minutes Cemetery Board CITY OF * Regular Meeting A1JJ3jJJJ ..J October 14, 2025 - 2:00 PM Cemetery Office, Arrangement Room WASH I NGTON MINUTES CALL TO ORDER • The Cemetery Board meeting of Tuesday, October 14th, 2025 was called to order by Judi Roland at 2:00pm. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION • There was no public participation. ROLL CALL • Members present: Judi Roland, Bridget Jones, Tim Pierce and Jeanne Hicks • Member excused: Robert Rakos • Staff present: Immer Chevalier and April Shank Cerio AGENDA MODIFICATIONS • There were no modifications to the agenda. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION • There was no audience participation. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Review of Minutes - Minutes from Meeting on August 12th, 2025 • Minutes from meeting on August 12th, 2025 were reviewed, no corrections or additions were made and was unanimously passed to approve as printed. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. 10th Addition Project Update • CornerStone Construction & Landscaping started the last week of September with dropping off equipment for the 10th addition project. They have been working about 3 days per week and coordinating around the cemetery's service schedule which has been working well. It is estimated to take 30 days to complete. Grading has been completed and lines have been laid out for the irrigation. They communicate with Lead Maintenance worker Zach for the irrigation details, as he is the main irrigation worker for the cemetery. They will provide a drawing to show where all the lines are so it is known for the future. Landscaping will also be added to the back areas. The plan is to be able to sell property in this area in 2026. B. New Upright Monument Pond Area • As mentioned before, upright monument plots in the cemetery are running low. Staff have already created the new 9B area that has 14 plots, of which two sold immediately, and the same family has a couple more on hold. This newest area is over by ForestWalk and Child's Place and near where the Easter Sunrise service is held. These will be side-by-side plots. The last couple of months, staff have been working on this area, removing the fence and planted several trees, shrubs and spread bark to beautify the area. This new area will have 34 plots and a family is already interested in three. • Comment from the board - It would be nice at one of the future Spring board meetings a tour could be given of the cemetery, so the board can see where all of these sections are located. All agreed. C. New John Deere Gator Request • A budget amendment must be made to make a purchase of equipment. There was communication with the City's financial analyst to determine if there were enough funds for the purchase. It was agreed that the cemetery has the funds for this purchase. The proposal was sent to the finance department for review, and they added in the appropriate accounts. Then this is given to the Director for review and all gets submitted to Finance. This was done by October 3rd and will be submitted to the Council for review and approval. This will be for a 2026 John Deere HPX815E Diesel Gator which costs $17,000 plus tax. The request is for $19,000 for the purchase. • Question from the board - Does the cemetery have other gators to use? Yes, 2 additional besides the current one that needs replaced. The one needing replaced is 20 years old and having a lot of issues. D. Seasonal Help • The cemetery had 2 seasonal workers this year. They both started at the end of April. One finished in August to pursue his nursing career. The second will be finished on October 24th, and he already has another seasonal position lined up with the City of Federal Way. They were both a huge help to the staff, and they will be missed. • Question from the board - Is it difficult to find seasonal help? It's not hard; sometimes 35 applications are submitted, which then get narrowed down to 10- 15 to call. They get 40 hours a week and are paid $21.00-$22.00 per hour. • Question from the board - So seasonal work doesn't really go by seasons, it goes by months? Yes. We try to hire them in Springtime, so they are here through Summer to Fall. NEW BUSINESS A. Lakehaven - High Water Charges • The cemetery has two irrigation meters. Several months ago, one meter had a leak which was fixed and was discussed in a previous meeting. The most recent water bill showed a big increase in the other meter, which gave a concern that there could be a new water leak. To be proactive, a June - September report was requested from LakeHaven to see the hour-by-hour usage. You can see in the report the usage goes up and down throughout the day. This was discussed with the Lead Maintenace worker Zach to see if this was normal, and yes, it is as different irrigation zones go off at different times. The conclusion was there is no leak as the irrigation has been on all summer due to no rain and LakeHaven did have an increase in rates this year. • Question from the board - How much was the bill? $27,000 for the one irrigation meter. Which is about $7,000 more compared to 2024 for the same time period. • Question from the board - Does the City have a contractual relationship with the water district at all? No, the cemetery only has LakeHaven because of geographics, and is not in the City of Auburn water area. Is there a discount? No. ANNOUNCEMENTS, REPORTS, AND PRESENTATIONS A. Expenditure Status Report to September 2025 • This report is for 1/1/2025 - 9/30/2025. Accounts are divided by administration and operations. The administration side is for credit card fees, licenses and salaries. The office supplies account is very small, and we only buy what is needed. Professional services is for security and pest control. The main accounts to keep eyes on in operations are the supplies account and the professional services accounts. Recently, finance has made changes to the coding for items that have always been coded to supplies. Now things like equipment repairs, tree cutting, TruGreen, marker trimming and porta potty servicing are being coded to professional services. This is the budget from 2025- 2026 and, since then the changes have started. Don't pay too much attention to the individual amounts but the overall total. There will be a lot of movement in the numbers, so that is why you see a lot of money in one account and the other shows overdrawn. The cemetery is at about 67% of the budget, which is good. • Question from the board - Will the accounts be changed after the first of the year? They should be changed in the next budget update. Everything has to be in the right place to know exactly how much in each area. • Question from the board - Is the new gator accounted for in these numbers ? No, that is what the budget amendment was for. • Question from the board - Are these all the expenses? No. Is there a reserve amount for the cemetery when there is no more income coming in? Yes, this is an endowed care cemetery. When property is purchased, families pay 10% additional and the funds are placed in an account for future need. This started in the 70's or 80's. When there is no more property to sell, those funds will be utilized to pay for repairs, water and any employees still needed for services and maintenance. Are these funds invested? Yes, and finance is in charge of this account. B. Budget Update - August to September 2025 • August and September's revenues were pretty close to normal for both months. The cemetery's overall revenue is up 10% compared to 2024. More plots have been sold, but marker sales overall are down compared to last year. Cemetery Sales August September Month-To-Date Receipts $187,490.08 $152,342.51 Ground Plots 9 10 Cremation Plots 1 2 Niches 8 3 ForestWalk Ossuary Extended Land Use 6 Markers 10 17 Graves 10 12 Markers 10 17 Niches 8 3 Total Placements 19 25 Cremation 10 17 Ground Burial 9 8 DISCUSSION ITEMS A. Proposed Changes to the Cemetery Board Rules of Procedure • During a recent training with the City Clerk's office, it was brought to attention that the Cemetery's Manual of Policies and Procedures had not been updated in 20 years. Looking over pages one and two, the first paragraph needs to be adjusted that the cemetery meetings are held every 'even' month as well as held virtually. The Order of Business should include all items that are used in the current agendas. • Comment/suggestion from the board - Go ahead and make the appropriate changes and present again to the board at the next meeting and then to the city clerk. Further changes/additions to these policies can be made in steps and if it takes awhile, that is ok. As a suggestion, at the first board meeting of the year, this could be reviewed to see if any changes need to be made. B. Review Update to Marker Policy and Proposed Outside Marker Sales Policy • The Board reviewed and approved the Marker Policy on April 8th, 2025. A new 'Outside Marker Sales Policy' draft has been created for the Board to review. Once this new document has been approved, the Marker Policy's date will be updated with a line added to #9 - Refer to the Outside Marker Sales Policy. • Some suggested changes by the board on the new 'Outside Marker Sales Policy include: Under the title 'Online Orders' - Have it say: Online/Non-Local Orders, Remove the line - 'The cemetery does not accept online orders for Upright Monuments'. This may just add confusion, as the cemetery will not directly accept any style of online order. The policy clarifies that a family must receive their online order directly and then coordinate with the cemetery for delivery. • It may be good to add a line that states that the cemetery reserves the right on a case-by-case basis to reject an order. • The board suggested making the changes and presenting this policy again at a future meeting. SCHEDULE FOR UPCOMING MEETINGS A. Next Meeting - Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 at 2pm ADJOURNMENT • The meeting was adjourned by Judi Roland at 3:21pm. Prepared By a in April Shank Cerio, Cemetery Administrative Specialist Approved By JudiLand, Cemetery Board Chairperson