Note: The legislative history of this Chapter, except where specifically noted at the end of a section, is as follows: Ordinance No. 63410-A, passed September 22, 1924.
CROSS REFERENCES
General provisions and regulations, RC Ch 759
Management and control, RC 759.09
Cemetery Endowment Fund, RC 759.12, 759.15
Burial permits, RC 3705.24 et seq.
Location of cemeteries restricted, CO 347.04
As used in this chapter:
(a) "Sell" and "purchase" and derivatives thereof do not mean any alienation of conveyance or any acquisition of title to property of any description, but only mean the granting by the City to the purchaser and his heirs or successors in interest of the right of sepulture, the right of access at reasonable times, the right to erect, maintain and care for monuments or other structures, and the right to beautify lots or graves, all subject to the provisions of laws, ordinances, rules and regulations applicable in the premises, as the same shall be in effect at the time of the con- summation of such sale and purchase, or as thereafter amended or changed.
(b) "Cemetery lot," "lot," "burial lot," "burial site," "section" or other similar descriptive terms mean any lot, section or other appropriate description of space in a cemetery, shown on the plat thereof as being designated for the burial of human remains,
(c) "Mausoleum" includes "columbarium."
(d) "Crypt" includes "niche."
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
Certificates of purchase and agreements for purchase of cemetery lots, crypts and niches as provided for in this chapter shall be in the form prescribed by the Director of Law, and shall not be valid until approved by him in each case. Such form shall be sufficient to incorporate therein by reference or otherwise the provisions of all laws, ordinances and rules and regulations applicable in the premises, as the same shall be in effect at the time of the issuance of such certificate or agreement, or as thereafter amended or changed.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall have power to designate areas within which headstones, monuments and other structures may be erected, and shall have power to control and regulate the erection thereof in or upon cemetery lots. No headstone, monument or other structure shall be so erected unless approved by him.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall by general rule determine at what hours and for what purposes the cemeteries shall be open to pedestrians and to vehicles.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
No horse or horsedrawn vehicle shall be driven faster than a walk, nor any motor vehicle faster than fifteen miles per hour, within any cemetery owned by the City.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall prepare a plat of every cemetery owned or established by the City. Such plat shall show all drives, walks or other thoroughfares; all sewers, drains or watercourses; all lots reserved for buildings necessary in the administration of such cemetery; all areas reserved as parks or open spaces; all burial lots; all areas reserved for future platting. The Commissioner may, with the approval of the directors of the departments concerned, requisition the services of any office or division which may be needed in the preparation of such plat. In every such case the value of such services shall be paid from the Cemetery Operating Fund to the General Fund. Such plat shall be subject to the approval of the Platting Commissioner as to all drains and sewers shown thereon, and subject to the approval of the Director of Public Properties in all respects. When so approved it shall be filed as public record in the office of the Commissioner, subject to alterations, amendment, supplement or supersession only by a plat similarly prepared and approved which shall specifically state the plat or particular items of a particular plat intended to be altered, amended, supplemented or superseded. No interment shall be permitted except in a burial lot or site shown as such upon the plat herein required.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
Prices at which cemetery lots, or parts thereof, may be sold shall be fixed by the Commissioner of Cemeteries, at the time of platting any cemetery or part of any cemetery hereinafter acquired by the City, or not heretofore platted. The prices so fixed for all the lots shown on any plat shall be included in a single schedule, which shall clearly identify each lot shown on such plat, and the price thereof. No schedule or amendment thereto shall be valid until the approval of the Director of Public Properties is endorsed thereon over his signature, and until it is filed as a public record in the office of the Commissioner. Whenever any prices so fixed are to be changed, it shall be done only by amending such schedule, or by adopting a new schedule, which shall supersede all prior schedules applicable to such plat.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The price of each lot shall be the sum of three items determined as provided in Sections 557.09 to 557.11:
(a) The land cost, in which term is included the cost to the City of the land and general improvements represented by such lot or site;
(b) The endowment cost, being the contribution required to be made to the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund; and
(c) The operation cost, being the amount required for the care and upkeep of the lot, as shall be determined by the Commissioner of Cemeteries, and which sum shall be the balance remaining after deductions of subsections (a) and (b) hereof from the selling price of each lot.
Each such item and the total price shall be shown on the schedule required by Section 557.07.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
In the case of cemeteries hereafter acquired, the Commissioner of Cemeteries shall determine an amount which shall be the sum of the amounts paid for the entire tract acquired for cemetery purposes, plus an amount determined to be required for general improvements of whatever character, plus any amounts to be paid as interest on bonds or other obligations of the City issued to pay for the acquisition or improvement of such cemetery. The sum so determined shall be divided into as many portions as there are lots laid out on such plat, and each portion shall be determined to be the land cost of some particular lot; provided, that when such tract is not all platted at once, only a proper proportion of the sum determined as provided shall be apportioned to the lots platted at any one time. In determining the portion of land cost to be fixed upon any one lot, consideration shall be taken of area, location and any other factors affecting the relative value of the several lots.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
In the case of lots in cemeteries hereafter laid out, and in the case of the platting hereafter of land heretofore acquired for cemetery purposes, the last cost shall be determined and apportioned to the several lots as nearly as may be in conformity with the principles indicated in Section 557.09.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The endowment cost to be fixed upon each lot shall be an amount, the earnings of which at not less than three percent interest per annum will be sufficient, in the estimation of the Commissioner of Cemeteries, to defray the cost of maintaining and caring for such lot or burial site and for structures which may be erected thereon, and of maintaining and caring for the drives, walks and general improvements in such cemetery. Such endowment cost shall be based primarily upon the area of the particular lot, but may be increased above or diminished from such basis in consideration of special circumstances affecting the anticipated cost of maintaining and caring for any particular lot.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
When the plat and schedule provided for in Sections 557.06 and 557.07 have been approved and filed, the Commissioner of Cemeteries shall have power on behalf of the City to sell lots, parts of lots or burial sites, at the respective prices shown in such schedule. No burial lot or site shall be sold unless it is platted, nor at any price not shown on such schedule.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries may at his discretion accept an initial payment on the price of such lot in an amount not less than half the total price, nor in any case less than the land cost apportioned to such lot. Payment of the remainder of such price shall be secured by such agreement as the Commissioner, with the approval of the Director of Public Properties, deems reasonable. Such agreement shall be in form prescribed and approved by the Director of Law, and shall require the payment to the City for the benefit of the Cemetery Operating Fund of interest at the rate of six percent per annum upon the deferred portion of such price, and for the reduction from time to time of such deferred portion by payments not less frequent than semi-annually, nor shall the payment of any portion be deferred longer than five years. The entire amount unpaid shall become due and payable before any interment is permitted in such lot, but such payment may be waived, and the agreement continued upon terms approved by the Directors named in this section.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
No certificate of purchase for any cemetery lot shall be issued until the price therefor is paid in full. Whenever any deferred payment on such price is in default for more than thirty days, the entire amount unpaid shall at once become due, and unless the same is paid forthwith, the Commissioner of Cemeteries shall cancel the agreement and tender to the purchaser a certificate of purchase for so many burial sites therein as the Commissioner shall determine to have been paid for in full.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The person to whom a certificate of purchase as an agreement to purchase has been issued or the successor in interest of such person, may transfer or assign such certificate or agreement, as to the whole or any portion of the lot described therein, subject in every case to the approval and consent of the Commissioner of Cemeteries, which shall be recited in and endorsed upon the instrument evidencing such transfer, in form prescribed by the Director of Law, and no such transfer or assignment shall be valid unless so endorsed and unless approved by the Director.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
A certificate of purchase shall not convey to the purchaser any title to the land described therein, but shall secure to him the right of sepulture for himself and for members of his family, the right of access at all reasonable times, and the right to erect, maintain and care for monuments or other structures, and to beautify lots or graves, all subject to the provisions of laws, ordinances and rules or regulations applicable in the premises.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The City shall reserve the right in the case of the opening of a thoroughfare or highway on a course through any cemetery to cancel such certificate of purchase. Upon any such cancellation the City shall be obligated to issue a certificate of purchase in lieu of the one cancelled, describing another lot of equal price, in the same or another City cemetery, and to pay the cost of removing and reinterring bodies and of removing or replacing monuments, structures or improvements placed on such original lot by the holder of such certificate or at his option, to issue to such holder a certificate stating the amount paid for or upon the cancelled certificate, which amount so certified shall thereafter be credited as paid upon any lot or crypt purchased by the holder thereof or his successors in interest. No refund shall ever be made of moneys received by reason of the sale or agreement to sell any lot or crypt.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
That portion of the price of any cemetery lot which is designated as the endowment cost shall upon its receipt be paid forthwith into the principal account of a perpetual trust fund, hereby established and designated as the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund. The principal of such Fund shall be forever inviolate; it shall be invested by the Director of Finance, or by his successor designated for such purpose by ordinance, in securities in which sinking funds or municipal trust funds are authorized by statute or ordinance to be invested. Any portions at any time uninvested shall be kept on deposit, at interest, in regular City depositaries.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The City will at all times accept contributions to the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund in respect of any lot heretofore sold; but no such contribution in an amount less than the amount determined by the Commissioner of Cemeteries to be a proper endowment of such lot shall be accepted except upon terms and conditions prescribed by the Commissioner. Whenever the full amount of such proper endowment, so determined, is paid into such Fund, the owners of such lots shall have all the rights and privileges enjoyed by purchasers under the terms of this chapter.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
In addition to the endowment funds, the City is authorized to receive from trustees, executors or other custodians of trust funds under wills or agreements providing for the upkeep of lots and monuments and headstones in cemeteries belonging to or under the control of the City, such annual payments as such custodians of the trust fund are able and willing to make. The funds so received shall be expended by the Commissioner of Cemeteries in the maintenance and beautification of the particular lot and the maintenance and repair of any headstone and monument standing thereon for which such contribution is made. The Commissioner is authorized to issue receipts for such funds stipulating that the same shall be expended solely for the improvements of the lots, headstones and monuments designated by such custodian of the trust fund.
(Ord. No. 95205. Passed 7-27-31)
Trust funds heretofore established for the perpetual care of cemetery lots heretofore sold may be turned in whole or in part into the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund with the concurrence of the Commissioner of Cemeteries and of the purchaser of any such lot or his representative or successor in interest having power to assent thereto. The Commissioner shall not give such concurrence unless the amount so turned into such Fund is of at least equivalent value to a proper endowment cost for the lot concerned, or unless any amount by which it falls short of such endowment cost is paid into such Fund. Thereupon the original trust fund agreement shall be modified or cancelled, and the purchaser shall have the same rights and privileges as purchasers of lots under the current provisions of this chapter. In case trust funds are not so turned into such Fund, the original trust agreement shall continue in force unchanged.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
Purchasers of cemetery lots may create and the City may accept the custody and administration of perpetual trust funds for the purpose of providing care or beautification of such lots in addition to the care provided from the Cemetery Operating Fund. Every fund so created shall be evidenced by an agreement in form prescribed and approved by the Director of Law, executed by the purchaser in his own behalf and by the Commissioner of Cemeteries and the Director of Finance in behalf of the City. For the purpose of custody and investment, but not otherwise, the principal amount of such trust funds, whether created prior to the enactment of this section or pursuant to its terms, shall be treated as part of the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund. The earnings of each such trust fund shall be applied exclusively to the care and beautification of the lot for which such trust fund was established. Such expenditure may be made each year as the earnings accrue, or a reserve may be accumulated of such earnings in such amount as the Commissioner may deem necessary to meet emergencies and unanticipated requirements.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
(a) The income from the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund and from deferred payments due thereto, and all earnings of the Division of Cemeteries, including those described in Section 557.08(c), shall be paid into the Cemetery Operating Fund hereby established. Moneys in the Cemetery Operating Fund shall be available each year for appropriation for the purpose of operating, maintaining, caring for, improving and beautifying cemeteries of the City, or parts thereof.
(b) No moneys in the Cemetery Operating Fund derived from the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund or from trust funds or from earnings of the Division shall ever be transferred or diverted to any other fund, or expended for any other purpose than those specified in this section.
(c) The salaries of the Commissioner of Cemeteries and other employees of the Division and other expenses of such Division, shall be payable from the Cemetery Operating Fund.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
Council shall each year appropriate from the General Fund to the Cemetery Operating Fund an amount sufficient with balances in and revenues of such Cemetery Operating Fund to defray the expenses payable from such Cemetery Operating Fund for the ensuing year. All unencumbered appropriations from the Cemetery Operating Fund shall lapse at the end of the year for which such appropriations were made. Any unencumbered balance remaining in such Cemetery Operating Fund at the end of any year, not exceeding the amount appropriated thereto from the General Fund in addition to the cost of pauper burials for such year, shall revert to the General Fund.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall at all times keep in his office as a public record a plan of every City mausoleum, which plan shall show and clearly identify every crypt and niche intended for use as a repository of human remains. Such plan shall not be of any force or effect for the purposes of this chapter until and unless it is approved by the Director of Public Properties. Such plan may be altered, amended, supplemented or superseded by only a like plan similarly approved, which shall specifically state the plan or particular items of the plan intended to be altered, amended, supplemented or superseded.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries may designate upon the plan provided for in Section 557.25 a sufficient number of vaults or crypts for the purpose of the temporary receipt and keeping of human remains, pending their permanent burial or placement in a private crypt. No human remains not intended for immediate burial or placement in a private crypt shall be placed or kept in any other place in any City cemetery or mausoleum than in the vaults or crypts designated as provided in this section. The Commissioner shall have power in each case to fix the rental for the use of such temporary vault or crypt, and to require the permanent burial or placement in a private crypt or other disposal of such remains after a period deemed by such Commissioner to be reasonable in each case.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
Prices at which crypts and niches of City mausoleums shall be sold shall be fixed by the Commissioner of Cemeteries not later than the first offering of any such crypt or niche for sale, in the case of mausoleums hereafter erected. The prices so fixed for all of the crypts and niches shown on any plan shall be included in a single schedule, which shall clearly identify each crypt or niche and the price thereof. No schedule or amendment thereto shall be valid until the approval of the Director of Public Properties is endorsed thereon over his signature, and until it is filed as a public record in the office of the Commissioner. Whenever any prices so fixed are to be changed, it shall be done only by amending such schedule, or by adopting a new schedule which shall supersede all prior schedules applicable to such plan.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The price of each crypt or niche shall be the sum of two items, namely:
(a) The land and capital cost, which shall be determined upon a basis corresponding in principal to the basis established in Sections 557.09 and 557.10 for the determination of land cost in the case of cemetery lots; and
(b) The endowment cost, being the contribution required to be made to the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund, which shall be determined upon a basis corresponding in principal to the basis established in Section 557.11 for fixing the endowment cost of cemetery lots. Each such item, and the total price, shall be shown on the schedule hereinbefore required.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
The provisions of Sections 557.01 and 557.12 to 557.17, in so far as they can be applied to the sale and care of mausoleum crypts and niches, shall be so applied in the same manner as they are applicable to the sale and care of cemetery lots.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
That portion of the price of any mausoleum crypt or niche which is designated as the endowment cost shall upon its receipt be paid forthwith into the Cleveland City Cemetery Endowment Fund.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall prepare and maintain correct plats, plans or other records sufficient to show the purchasers or holders of certificates of purchase, or of other instruments equivalent thereto, of all lots, crypts and niches.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
Upon the payment of the price of a cemetery lot, or a mausoleum crypt, or of an initial payment thereon, so much thereof as represents land cost, or land and capital cost, shall be paid into the sinking fund or into bond interest and retirement funds respectively, and applied to the payment of cemetery or mausoleum bonds and interest thereon; provided that if at any time there shall be no cemetery or mausoleum bonds outstanding or if there is accumulated in such funds an amount which, with earnings thereon, will pay the interest on and discharge such bonds when due, such land cost, or land and capital cost shall be paid into the Cemetery Operating Fund.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall have power to fix and determine charges to be made for the use of City crematories, or for other services rendered by the Division of Cemeteries.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
The Commissioner of Cemeteries shall have power to make and prescribe rules and regulations not inconsistent with any provisions of this chapter, for the management and conduct of the Division of Cemeteries and of any matters relating to the administration thereof.
(Ord. No. 81865. Passed 4-2-28)
Wherever a City mausoleum is combined in the same building with a chapel, a crematory or other facilities not solely required for the mausoleum, the Commissioner of Cemeteries shall have power in determining the land and capital cost of such mausoleum to exclude such portion of the total cost of such entire building as may represent the cost of such crematory, chapel and other facilities not solely required for such mausoleum.
(Ord. No. 84157. Passed 11-12-28)
Wherever the Commissioner of Cemeteries determines that cemetery lots, mausoleum crypts or niches cannot be sold at prices determined as provided in the foregoing sections of this chapter, he shall have power, with the approval of the Director of Public Properties, to fix such less price as shall represent the highest price reasonably obtainable, not less than the endowment cost fixed as determined in this chapter, and to diminish the land cost or the land and capital cost in such proportion as may be required. No sale shall be made for less than the endowment cost, and the full amount of the endowment cost shall in every case be paid into the respective endowment funds as in cases where the price is the full sum required by this chapter.
(Ord. No. 84157. Passed 11-12-28)
All earnings derived from the use of mausoleum buildings, including the use of crematories, chapels and other facilities therein, shall be paid into the Cleveland City Cemetery Operating Fund.
(Ord. No. 98793. Passed 4-20-33)
(a) As used in this section, "grave" shall mean a space within a City-owned cemetery which is designated for the burial of one dead body; "grave-site" shall mean a space within a City-owned cemetery which contains one or more graves; "receipt" shall mean the document which evidences the City's original conveyance of rights in a grave to a member or members of the public; and "certificate of purchase" shall mean the document which evidences the City's original conveyance of rights in a grave site to a member or members of the public.
(b) When so requested by the owner of a receipt or a certificate of purchase, his successor(s) or assign(s), and upon receiving said receipt or certificate, the Commission of Park Maintenance and Properties may repurchase a grave which is the subject of the receipt or certificate.
(c) When the Commissioner agrees to repurchase a grave, he shall do so for the price at which the grave was originally sold by the City less ten (10) percent of that price to cover administrative costs incurred in the repurchase process. In the case of a grave which has been vacated through disinterment, the Commissioner may credit the repurchase price against the cost of disinterment. The portion of the repurchase price which exceeds the cost of disinterment, if any, shall be paid to the seller of the grave.
(d) When a grave has been repurchased by the Commissioner, the cemetery records shall reflect the availability of that grave for purchase.
(Ord. No. 2044-92. Passed 12-7-92, eff. 12-14-92)
Note: Pursuant to Sections 5, 6, and 7 of Ord. No. 2044-92, any references to Division of Park Maintenance and Commissioner of Park Maintenance shall be amended to read Division of Park Maintenance and Properties and Commissioner of Park Maintenance and Properties, respectively.
The Commissioner of Park Maintenance and Properties shall prepare a schedule of special cemetery services not in conflict with the foregoing Codified Ordinances. Charges for such services shall be determined by said Commissioner and shall be effective upon approval by the Board of Control.
(Ord. No. 2044-92. Passed 12-7-92, eff. 12-14-92)
Note: Pursuant to Sections 5, 6, and 7 of Ord. No. 2044-92, any references to Division of Park Maintenance and Commissioner of Park Maintenance shall be amended to read Division of Park Maintenance and Properties and Commissioner of Park Maintenance and Properties.
Whoever violates any provision of this chapter shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00), or imprisoned, or both. Such imprisonment, for the first offense shall not exceed thirty days, for the second offense, sixty days and for the third and each subsequent offense, three months.