Cemetery improvements to include new maps, possible gazebo

By Ian MacKay

Changes are likely at the cemetery later this year.

It needs new maps that show where people are buried and the “little hut where the maps are now is pretty small,” said Mayor Trevor Hay, who’d had the topic added to the agenda for the Feb. 17 council meeting.

Hay suggested “a large gazebo” to contain maps that should face “the area of the cemetery that you’re looking at.”

The building now housing maps must be moved because a family columbarium is to stand there, he said.

A new family columbarium is scheduled to join these individual ones at the cemetery this year. Also, Mayor Trevor Hay would like to replace the small building housing maps with new maps under a gazebo. Photo by Ian MacKay

The town could pay for the changes by using some of the money held in reserve for cemetery improvements, he said. The reserve holds money that “a few different families” donated to improve the cemetery’s appearance, he said.

Besides a better appearance, new maps would help make the graves of loved ones easier to find, Hay said.

Staff with the public works and recreation departments could work out a plan, check prices and create a design for the new structure, said Amanda Bors, the town’s interim chief administrator.

Councillor Greg Carlson suggested also creating a dugout nearby to help staff keep the grass green.

“If we could look at a water supply that’s better than what we’ve got right now, in a dugout form maybe, that would help,” Carlson said. “Our water’s always going” - flowing away in the drainage ditch - “when we get that two-inch rain,” he said.

An extension of the ditch past the cemetery could fill a dugout, with any extra flowing past, Carlson said.

Meanwhile, a man who attended a council meeting several months ago and complained afterwards about damage done to a relative’s grave marker didn’t contact the town again nor leave contact information, said Kelli Emmons, the recreation director.

Emmons, who oversees the cemetery, said that one of the bronze plates that had been attached to the monument was missing.

Also, a reference in our Feb. 10 issue to a supplier who wanted someone “to observe” as staff rebuilt a stack for the water treatment plant was erroneous, Bors said last week.

“Our staff is more than capable” of rebuilding the plant’s stacks on their own, she noted. A person “to do our inspection” and who’d hoped to watch them do it wasn’t able to attend, Bors indicated.