[0:01] Is this

[0:02] >> got

[0:05] two or three?

[0:11] » I'll go ahead and call it to order.

[0:12] >> Okay,

[0:14] >> we have a

[0:18] do I need to approve minutes?

[0:39] Okay.

[0:41] >> Have any public comments?

[0:47] » Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the

[0:50] minutes from the advisory board meeting

[0:52] on May 26, 2026.

[0:55] Second.

[0:57] >> All in favor?

[1:00] >> It's approved.

[1:06] » Next slide.

[1:07] >> Okay.

[1:19] We have a report on

[1:22] the new system.

[1:27] Victor.

[1:30] >> Good afternoon board members. I just

[1:32] want to present to you our new

[1:34] administrative assistant Cinda Landers.

[1:38] This is her third week

[1:40] starting with us and she is picking up

[1:43] and taking names and we are proud to

[1:47] have her and I'm happy to have her as

[1:50] well.

[1:51] Will the hours remain the same?

[1:54] >> The hours

[1:56] will re remain the same that are posted

[1:58] on the on the door. Yes.

[2:00] >> Okay.

[2:01] >> There's been no change.

[2:03] >> And you're taking over Sherry?

[2:06] >> Yes.

[2:07] >> The new administrative assistant. Sherry

[2:10] has retired.

[2:12] >> And did all her work get done putting in

[2:14] the data?

[2:16] >> No.

[2:18] You mean the migration error project?

[2:20] >> Yeah.

[2:21] >> No,

[2:22] >> that that is something that we're going

[2:24] to continue to work on ourselves.

[2:28] » It's good to have you

[2:32] here.

[2:33] >> Look forward to seeing you out at the

[2:35] cemetery.

[2:36] >> Yes, absolutely.

[2:42] Do you have any updates on

[2:46] the cemetery project?

[2:51] » Thank you, vice chair and board. Uh, so

[2:54] we're going to do our updates in two

[2:56] separate parts. So, I'm going to um talk

[2:58] about some operational and

[3:00] administrative project updates and then

[3:02] Victor is going to do more of the

[3:03] aesthetic and actual cemetery project

[3:05] updates. Um, so I'm going to kind of go

[3:07] off of the list that you'll see on your

[3:09] screen in front of you there. So the

[3:10] first one is just to discuss that we are

[3:12] right now um in the time of year where

[3:16] we will do fee structure changes and

[3:18] that's something that we talked about at

[3:19] our last advisory meeting. So there are

[3:22] some changes to our fee structure. A lot

[3:24] of the changes is more of transparency

[3:27] oriented changes. So we did have a lot

[3:29] of packages

[3:30] um with a dollar figure associated and

[3:33] so now what you'll see is more of a

[3:34] breakout. So, a little bit more

[3:36] transparency for us for new staff coming

[3:39] on board for the community coming in.

[3:42] Uh, one of the main things that you'll

[3:43] see that's changed is we have added

[3:46] services like pawbearer services. So,

[3:48] that is now on our fee structure. um

[3:51] that was a huge time commitment for our

[3:53] staff and that was something that we

[3:54] were doing um sometimes on a whim

[3:57] without a lot of information and so now

[3:59] that gives them a little bit ability to

[4:01] plan and um provide better services for

[4:04] the community. Those changes will um be

[4:08] approved through the budgetary process

[4:10] and they will become effective on

[4:12] October 1. Any questions about those? Uh

[4:18] when you did that work, uh was

[4:23] were any changes made to increase

[4:25] revenue to the cemetery or

[4:28] >> uh well so this will increase revenue

[4:30] some um but a lot of our fee structure

[4:34] right now um we didn't do a lot of

[4:36] increase or decrease. We did remove some

[4:39] services that were kind of obsolete

[4:43] um that really should be do being done

[4:44] by contractors, things like soding and

[4:47] stuff like that, but we did not do

[4:49] anything to um drive revenue per se.

[4:53] >> As you say, is the increased revenue

[4:55] enough to cover inflation?

[4:58] >> So, I will kind of address the bottom

[5:00] one here, which is the pay time of

[5:02] service, and that is something that we

[5:04] have changed. I'll just kind of skip to

[5:05] that one. Um so right now our open and

[5:09] close fees can be invoiced prepaid in

[5:11] advance. That is where a lot of auditing

[5:15] and financial burden has been placed on

[5:18] many departments uh including inflation

[5:22] costs that really affect us um when it

[5:25] comes time to actually perform the

[5:27] services because it could be decades

[5:29] down the road. Um so what we are doing

[5:31] now is eliminating that. So now it will

[5:33] be at need uh invoicing.

[5:37] >> So I couldn't pay for my wife's funeral

[5:39] in the future.

[5:41] >> So you can pay for your lot fees um if

[5:44] you do a colarium things like that there

[5:46] like your plaques and stuff. All of that

[5:48] will be done at the time that you

[5:50] purchase, but your open and close fees

[5:52] now will be done at the time of need.

[5:59] Um, outside of that, if I go back to uh

[6:02] the first two or some that we just

[6:04] addressed, um, the closing of the

[6:05] chapel, the chapel has been in pretty

[6:09] poor shape. And Victor, Victor can, if

[6:11] you want more information about that, he

[6:13] can speak to a little bit more of the uh

[6:16] context on the condition itself. Um, but

[6:19] it is in poor condition. It takes a lot

[6:22] to keep it going and it's really not

[6:23] utilized by the public very often. Uh we

[6:26] have talked with funeral homes and

[6:28] things like that. All of them provide

[6:30] this service. Um we think that's

[6:32] probably why we don't end up using ours

[6:34] very often. So the turnover and the

[6:37] commitment and then the the uh actual

[6:40] facility itself as far as what you're

[6:42] experiencing when you're there um is

[6:45] just not to the condition that we would

[6:47] want it to be in for our community. Um,

[6:50] so because of that, the chapel for the

[6:52] public is closed at this time.

[6:55] >> Right now?

[6:56] >> Yes.

[6:56] >> Forever?

[6:57] >> For right now. Yes, we have had a

[6:59] contractor come in. I'm sorry.

[7:01] >> Are you just going to let it

[7:02] disintegrate?

[7:03] >> No. Uh, so we did have a contractor come

[7:06] in. Victor uh recently spoke to them so

[7:08] that we could get a true assessment of

[7:10] what that looked like. Our next step in

[7:13] that process is going to be to do an

[7:14] abatement survey. Ultimately based on

[7:17] the conditions that we find as far as

[7:19] our experience with the building and

[7:21] then the contractor itself it has to

[7:23] come down. So ultimately it will either

[7:26] it will need to come down and we will

[7:28] need to explore do we do we build a

[7:30] pavilion or something like that in its

[7:32] place in the future? Do we rebuild a

[7:34] chapel? But that's going to be a

[7:37] long-term strategic planning move. Right

[7:39] now we're just focused on the abatement

[7:41] and the survey of what the structure is

[7:43] right now.

[7:45] the restroom.

[7:48] >> Yes. So, the restroom that's in there

[7:50] right now, it has a lot of plumbing

[7:51] issues and failures and that's part of

[7:53] the problem of it. So, as the chapel

[7:55] itself is closed, the restroom there is

[7:57] closed as well.

[7:58] >> My mistake. I meant is there going to be

[8:00] a restroom now?

[8:03] >> That is not something that we've talked

[8:05] about. Um, it can definitely be

[8:07] something that we explore.

[8:15] keeping in mind that that was not an

[8:17] open facility generally. It was open on

[8:20] a a funeral service basis as far as the

[8:23] restroom goes, but um we can definitely

[8:26] have those conversations.

[8:28] >> How good is the administration building?

[8:32] as far as

[8:34] we're aware now, we haven't actually had

[8:35] somebody to come in and look at it, but

[8:37] the building as far as the

[8:38] administration building is fine outside

[8:40] of the HVAC will need to be addressed um

[8:44] in the near future, but we are aware of

[8:46] that.

[8:49] And then the last thing there uh is

[8:52] going to be our burial services. Um so

[8:54] some of the information that we've

[8:56] provided to you at some of the past

[8:57] meetings has been that we are trying to

[9:00] move more towards industry standards.

[9:02] We're doing a lot of things that are not

[9:04] aligned with traditional practices for

[9:07] um cemetery operations. And what I mean

[9:09] by that as far as our burial supplies is

[9:11] we are actually going to a manufacturer,

[9:15] the vendor that sells the liners that go

[9:17] into the ground. And we are purchasing

[9:19] those in bulk, which means we have a lot

[9:22] of money in our budget that allows us to

[9:24] purchase these in bulk. We have a

[9:26] storage space on site where we're

[9:28] storing these. And then we use our

[9:29] equipment to lift these heavy uh liners

[9:32] and take them out, which that is a a

[9:34] time commitment in itself. It's a burden

[9:36] on our equipment. and our equipment is

[9:37] very old. Um so we have reached out to

[9:41] um these local vendors as well as

[9:43] funeral homes and we have coordinated

[9:45] with all of them to traditionally the

[9:47] industry standard is that the funeral

[9:49] home will reach out to these vendors and

[9:51] the vendors will come out and drop that

[9:52] off to us into the hole. Um and so

[9:55] that's how we're operating now. It's

[9:57] going well. Uh we haven't had any issues

[10:00] with it. Um that saves us um time

[10:04] commitment as far as actually getting it

[10:06] to the hole. Uh which is great for

[10:08] staffing. It saves our equipment. Uh we

[10:11] are in the process now of requesting new

[10:13] equipment. So once that is um hopefully

[10:17] approved, then we'll be on a really good

[10:19] track moving forward as far as what that

[10:21] looks like for sustainability and

[10:23] operations.

[10:24] Um and then in addition to that, we'll

[10:26] have extra storage space on site. will

[10:28] save the money in our budget that we

[10:30] would normally push out to this. Um, so

[10:32] it kind of really streamlines things for

[10:34] us.

[10:37] » That would be a question Victor would

[10:39] have to answer for you.

[10:42] >> Who does that work?

[10:44] >> Uh, we have three vendors. Uh, Doric

[10:49] out of uh, Grape Line. Then we have Wise

[10:53] on the east side of Bonum and Wilbert

[10:57] based out of Dallas. So they're they're

[10:59] the ones actually come and set the

[11:02] vaults and set their greens and lowering

[11:04] device

[11:05] and they can either order a concrete

[11:08] liner or a metal concrete I'm sorry a

[11:11] metal box with concrete uh insulated in

[11:14] it.

[11:17] And they have a lift on the truck.

[11:20] >> Yes, they actually have a piece of

[11:22] equipment is called a um dolly buddy

[11:25] that actually is on wheels with a

[11:27] generator and it's easily rem uh

[11:30] maneuvered over the grave

[11:33] and placed

[11:36] right there on the Lauren device.

[11:39] >> What what was called the vault? Is that

[11:42] what you're

[11:42] >> The vault is the box. The is the the

[11:45] outside container. That's what you all

[11:47] used to carry.

[11:49] >> Yes.

[12:00] » We we were paying up front for them in

[12:02] bulk. Like Amanda said, we had a um GL

[12:06] code that was for that line item, but

[12:09] then we would turn around and build

[12:12] either the family if they were not going

[12:14] through a funeral home or build it in uh

[12:17] the funeral home as a whole.

[12:20] So now rather than trying to recoup that

[12:22] money with burial fees, the family then

[12:26] will pay for it from

[12:27] >> and that that is something that around

[12:30] North Texas about 99% of these

[12:34] cemeteries we're doing.

[12:37] >> So that's it's savings you have by no

[12:40] longer providing this service.

[12:43] >> Correct. We we will house one or two in

[12:46] case of emergency.

[12:48] the people coming from Gravine Dor had a

[12:51] flat tire. We we'll have one or two on

[12:54] standby in case of emergency. But yes,

[12:58] that is something that these vendors

[13:01] know what to do. They go to West Hill

[13:03] Cedon, they know exactly what to do.

[13:08] for all the other things having gone to

[13:09] the

[13:12] several out there the tent the I don't

[13:15] know what you call the fake grass that

[13:16] you lay down there

[13:17] >> greens all those nice chairs all that

[13:21] >> yes like Amanda was saying earlier that

[13:25] is um broken down in the fee schedule so

[13:27] that way it's transparent on what each

[13:30] line item cost

[13:32] >> absolutely yeah

[13:33] >> and as far as the budget having gone

[13:34] through the budget offsite

[13:37] and eagerly awaiting the budget that'll

[13:40] be presented on the 22nd of September.

[13:44] What pieces of equipment either were or

[13:47] are

[13:48] like the new backho

[13:52] in there and how can we as the advisory

[13:55] committee get to the city council so we

[14:00] can go a different route than you having

[14:02] to go through.

[14:06] probably not this year, but for next

[14:08] year's budget.

[14:11] >> So, we put in this year for cemeteries

[14:15] um a bobcat. That's what we put in. Uh

[14:18] we know that we're in some pretty budget

[14:20] challenging times. And so, we felt like

[14:22] that was very crucial for us because

[14:24] ours is very old. It's got a lot of

[14:25] hours on it. It's heavy wear and tear.

[14:27] We use it daily, weekly. Um and that has

[14:30] been a consistent top contender the

[14:33] entire time that finance has presented

[14:35] those. and they will come to city

[14:37] council periodically. Lori Oabah, the

[14:40] director of finance, she will come and

[14:41] present on that and that's been a a very

[14:43] top contender this entire time because

[14:45] she knows that we've requested this

[14:47] multiple years in a row. So, we feel

[14:49] very confident. Of course, we don't know

[14:50] what's going to happen. Um,

[14:52] >> so you're filling that piece in even

[14:54] though the 300,000 for the road work

[14:57] stuff is not

[14:58] >> correct. Yeah. No, that we did submit

[15:00] that as well. It just didn't make the

[15:02] top.

[15:04] ought to be the go to the council and

[15:07] ask to be heard

[15:09] >> September 22nd.

[15:11] >> Yeah. Very good.

[15:13] >> And that was all of the administrative

[15:15] and operational updates I have. If you

[15:17] have any questions about any of that,

[15:18] I'd be happy to answer them for you.

[15:19] >> I have one more. Do we do the same type

[15:21] of an update for the other four city

[15:23] cemeteries? Magnolia for

[15:26] iron ore

[15:27] >> like in including them in this or I'm

[15:29] sorry.

[15:29] >> You ever address each cemetery

[15:31] individually like this?

[15:34] >> Uh

[15:35] we when whenever we're doing these

[15:37] updates for y'all, we will normally pick

[15:39] the things we feel like are most um high

[15:42] on our list as far as priorities for

[15:44] y'all to know or for us to get your

[15:46] advice. If you want to see something

[15:48] that is like specific to an individual

[15:50] area, we can definitely address that. We

[15:52] are out at all of them every week on a

[15:54] consistent basis doing different things.

[15:56] We have stuff going on at Magnolia,

[15:58] Oakwood, Ironor, and Fair View all this

[16:00] week alone. Um, so we can definitely

[16:03] always do that. It's just obviously Fair

[16:05] View is much more active and so you get

[16:07] a lot more uh information on that.

[16:09] >> Do our due diligence as the cemetery

[16:11] advisory board. I think

[16:14] >> it doesn't all have to be at the same

[16:15] time or at every meeting, but a cemetery

[16:19] for meeting you have Sure.

[16:23] You just want to see more updates on

[16:24] those.

[16:25] >> Correct.

[16:25] >> Yeah, absolutely. We can do that for

[16:26] you.

[16:30] » Yes.

[16:39] absolutely. We can do that.

[16:45] » Uh we do burials in Magnolia, Oakwood,

[16:48] and Fair View. We only sell out of Fair

[16:51] View. That's correct. Right.

[16:52] >> Correct.

[17:01] » Yes.

[17:01] >> They have to maintain.

[17:03] >> We do.

[17:06] Victor will do your operational updates.

[17:09] Outside of that.

[17:11] >> So, moving on to ops.

[17:14] We were able to hire a contractor who

[17:17] came out and removed the plaque

[17:22] off the wall, the back of the wall, as

[17:24] you can well see. Um, it looks like any

[17:28] construction job, but it was well

[17:30] patched

[17:32] and well taken care of and a pole was

[17:36] erected with the plaque on it slightly

[17:39] angled to where people leaving the

[17:41] cemetery can view it. And we've had many

[17:44] offline comments on letting us know what

[17:46] a good job that took place.

[17:59] » Another lawn project that I've been

[18:01] meaning to do with the staff out there

[18:03] was maintain the Garden of Tranquility.

[18:06] prior staff, superintendents and foremen

[18:09] and other managers uh were able to piece

[18:11] it together. But throughout time, just

[18:14] like anybody's house, weeds will attack

[18:17] it. So, as you can see on the left here

[18:19] picture here, weeds everywhere out of

[18:22] place. So we went and tilled it, pulled

[18:26] all the weeds manually by hand, picking

[18:28] up every pepper brook, laid massive

[18:31] amounts of weed barrier, and we put um

[18:35] mulch down and we maintained it by using

[18:39] uh fertilizer in the correct areas,

[18:42] trimmed it nice and neat, uh trimmed the backing of the bushes and the trees

[18:47] that are surround the whole Garden of

[18:48] Tranquility and made it just pop.

[18:52] Where is that located?

[18:54] >> In the back where you go to my shop

[18:56] >> maintenance

[18:57] >> to the maintenance shed back

[18:59] >> southwest corner

[19:02] >> west uh southwest. Yes, sir.

[19:05] >> Okay. I paid for one

[19:08] place,

[19:10] but I request

[19:14] don't put that red.

[19:18] » This is the This is the moch that we

[19:20] swapped out with yours.

[19:22] Do do you remember the red that we had

[19:24] to remove?

[19:25] >> Yeah,

[19:26] >> we this

[19:28] >> Okay. This has been replaced. This red

[19:31] that I'm seeing.

[19:32] >> No, that is that is the reason. This is

[19:34] the final product.

[19:35] >> Used it

[19:36] >> to save money.

[19:37] >> Absolutely.

[19:38] >> Yeah.

[19:38] >> Recycle.

[19:40] >> But I paid for it to be done

[19:42] >> for in the garden tranquility.

[19:44] >> No, the one

[19:46] >> in the front the the two front flower

[19:48] beds.

[19:48] >> I said take it out. I'll replace. We we

[19:50] had placed brown mulch and didn't like

[19:53] it. She paid for it to be replaced.

[19:58] >> So just to be

[19:59] >> So I I I bag those up

[20:02] and put them over a tarp.

[20:05] >> Don't buy any more of the red. Okay.

[20:09] >> Is there something wrong with the red,

[20:10] if I may ask?

[20:11] >> Yes. It doesn't it doesn't lend itself

[20:15] to

[20:17] a a lawn or cemeter. or whatever it's

[20:21] decorative.

[20:22] It's not

[20:26] >> especially some denominations red is not

[20:27] a good color.

[20:30] >> But I applaud you for recycling. It's

[20:32] >> my It's It's my It's my fifth year and

[20:34] that's the only color we ever use. But

[20:36] we will consider that.

[20:38] >> Well, I understand. I understand. Yeah.

[20:41] What you're saying.

[20:41] >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is recycled mulch.

[20:44] >> I commend you. It really looks nice.

[20:45] Now,

[20:46] >> thank you. My next question is I know

[20:48] Reese across America uses the plug in

[20:50] there. Last year it didn't work. So

[20:53] electric

[20:54] >> we have hot wire. We have uh we have hot

[20:58] wired in now.

[21:03] This is uh the north corner of 8491

[21:08] which we have taken to the next level of

[21:11] cleaning up because that area was

[21:13] overgrown and I understand that some of

[21:16] the other places on the north side might

[21:18] be overgrown as well. But this was a

[21:21] priority for me because it didn't

[21:24] complement the fence that just got

[21:26] placed. So obviously we have you the

[21:29] board to thank for that. But I took the

[21:32] whole vegetation away from the fence and

[21:35] tilled it, seated it,

[21:38] watered it, and you can see how it looks

[21:42] now day and night.

[21:43] >> Hope that grass comes back. It looks

[21:45] really nice. Good job.

[21:46] >> Thank you.

[21:51] » And that concludes stops. Were you and I

[21:54] drove around the whole cemetery

[21:56] all those trees?

[21:58] >> Yes. Um um Kurt and I we we discussed

[22:02] before the meeting on something that

[22:04] we're going to try

[22:06] >> for

[22:10] if you remember from last meeting

[22:13] was here talking

[22:28] Nice kind join those things and have

[22:32] people who are going to be in clients to

[22:37] customers but also have a chance to

[22:40] sponsor a dead

[22:51] but so what we're going to do next week

[22:53] is I'm going to have a meeting with them

[22:55] on behalf of the river museum

[22:57] to talk about how it is set up.

[23:11] » Well, that was my concern about

[23:15] that tour

[23:18] that we didn't have a chance to do some

[23:20] of this before the tour was

[23:28] just have the survey done by

[23:33] » it would be helpful for me since I don't

[23:35] think there's any other agendross

[23:54] America

[23:57] again

[24:03] asking for that plug there.

[24:06] History behind the stones is going to be

[24:08] October 24th

[24:13] and

[24:16] talked about the other things. So, we

[24:18] got a bobcat in the budget, but not

[24:26] appreciate at least discussing each one

[24:29] of the cemeteries.

[24:33] » We can definitely do that for next

[24:36] meeting. We'll have plenty of pictures.

[24:39] of plenty of work that we did at

[24:40] >> Oakwood.

[24:42] Ironto

[24:48] the before and after pictures were

[24:50] amazing.

[24:51] >> We stay on top of that for sure.

[24:54] It's amazing how many years

[24:57] neglected so much of this

[25:02] as guilty as anybody else until I had

[25:04] some

[25:11] I think it's

[25:13] just behooves us as a city to pay

[25:17] attention to these all these cemeteries

[25:20] that we're responsible Let me

[25:24] Is there ever any time where the

[25:26] cemetery advisory committee

[25:29] provides a report or provides a

[25:33] an update to the city council?

[25:40] Um, I will probably ask whoever the new

[25:43] city manager is that at a otherwise

[25:47] lowkey

[25:49] city council that once a year at least

[25:52] the cemetery advisory board an update.

[25:56] >> Uh, so since I have been here I I do not

[25:59] know of anything that's official. Uh

[26:02] what I will say is if you ever want to

[26:04] do kind of like what we done on the

[26:06] second part of the meeting today is like

[26:08] a staff update or a project update

[26:10] things like that where you're just

[26:11] talking to them about your concerns or

[26:14] things like that like we can always

[26:16] coordinate. There are different

[26:17] situations and times where we can put

[26:19] that kind of stuff work with uh Chris

[26:21] Wallentine or Chris Clerk on potentially

[26:23] putting that on there. Um, and then also

[26:26] you're always welcome to to email um,

[26:29] and definitely have those conversations

[26:31] as well. If you have a report that y'all

[26:33] feel like you want to put together and

[26:34] share, something that's more tangible,

[26:36] you can do that as well. It's just not

[26:37] something that has been done to my

[26:40] knowledge.

[26:40] >> What I'm bringing is in the same way

[26:42] that I'm associated with planning and

[26:44] zoning with historic preservation board.

[26:47] >> We are now doing that too because we're

[26:49] a city. We were supposed to advise the

[26:52] city council on it and it was set up

[26:55] this way. There's nothing that you all

[26:58] >> are doing or not doing that is wrong.

[27:01] >> It's just that our job supposedly is

[27:04] also to advise the city council right

[27:07] now. That is not being done

[27:09] >> and it may have to start by going

[27:10] through the city manager first

[27:13] >> and then maybe hopefully talk to either

[27:16] Christine or Karen and be able to get on

[27:18] as an agenda item. Yes.

[27:20] >> And it should be a fairly quick

[27:24] agenda item. I would like to make it a

[27:26] separate one.

[27:27] >> Sure.

[27:31] » And probably us, one of you

[27:40] can't hear us. They can't listen to us.

[27:42] >> I got you. Yes.

[27:43] >> I want to be able to advocate for

[27:45] getting the roads fixed, making sure the

[27:47] bridges don't fall, taking trees, you

[27:50] know, I don't want to have to wait until

[27:52] the cat is broken to be able to get

[27:54] another one.

[27:56] >> Yeah,

[27:57] >> that's what I see our job.

[27:59] >> Keeps on the radar.

[28:01] >> Yes, exactly.

[28:03] >> Here they come again. Okay, now you got

[28:05] to listen to

[28:07] >> I agree. I'm all in favor of that.

[28:09] >> Yeah, it started with the fence and I

[28:12] think we can

[28:13] >> Yes, I agree.

[28:16] >> Okay.

[28:20] I think that's the last agenda item, Mr.

[28:21] Chair.

[28:23] >> Okay. Um, no one else has anything.

[28:27] I'll move for

[28:30] second that.

Denison, Texas Cemetery Advisory Board Meeting, August 25, 2026

Agenda

Transcript