Is this
>> got
two or three?
» I'll go ahead and call it to order.
>> Okay,
>> we have a
do I need to approve minutes?
Okay.
>> Have any public comments?
» Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the
minutes from the advisory board meeting
on May 26, 2026.
Second.
>> All in favor?
>> It's approved.
» Next slide.
>> Okay.
We have a report on
the new system.
Victor.
>> Good afternoon board members. I just
want to present to you our new
administrative assistant Cinda Landers.
This is her third week
starting with us and she is picking up
and taking names and we are proud to
have her and I'm happy to have her as
well.
Will the hours remain the same?
>> The hours
will re remain the same that are posted
on the on the door. Yes.
>> Okay.
>> There's been no change.
>> And you're taking over Sherry?
>> Yes.
>> The new administrative assistant. Sherry
has retired.
>> And did all her work get done putting in
the data?
>> No.
You mean the migration error project?
>> Yeah.
>> No,
>> that that is something that we're going
to continue to work on ourselves.
» It's good to have you
here.
>> Look forward to seeing you out at the
cemetery.
>> Yes, absolutely.
Do you have any updates on
the cemetery project?
» Thank you, vice chair and board. Uh, so
we're going to do our updates in two
separate parts. So, I'm going to um talk
about some operational and
administrative project updates and then
Victor is going to do more of the
aesthetic and actual cemetery project
updates. Um, so I'm going to kind of go
off of the list that you'll see on your
screen in front of you there. So the
first one is just to discuss that we are
right now um in the time of year where
we will do fee structure changes and
that's something that we talked about at
our last advisory meeting. So there are
some changes to our fee structure. A lot
of the changes is more of transparency
oriented changes. So we did have a lot
of packages
um with a dollar figure associated and
so now what you'll see is more of a
breakout. So, a little bit more
transparency for us for new staff coming
on board for the community coming in.
Uh, one of the main things that you'll
see that's changed is we have added
services like pawbearer services. So,
that is now on our fee structure. um
that was a huge time commitment for our
staff and that was something that we
were doing um sometimes on a whim
without a lot of information and so now
that gives them a little bit ability to
plan and um provide better services for
the community. Those changes will um be
approved through the budgetary process
and they will become effective on
October 1. Any questions about those? Uh
when you did that work, uh was
were any changes made to increase
revenue to the cemetery or
>> uh well so this will increase revenue
some um but a lot of our fee structure
right now um we didn't do a lot of
increase or decrease. We did remove some
services that were kind of obsolete
um that really should be do being done
by contractors, things like soding and
stuff like that, but we did not do
anything to um drive revenue per se.
>> As you say, is the increased revenue
enough to cover inflation?
>> So, I will kind of address the bottom
one here, which is the pay time of
service, and that is something that we
have changed. I'll just kind of skip to
that one. Um so right now our open and
close fees can be invoiced prepaid in
advance. That is where a lot of auditing
and financial burden has been placed on
many departments uh including inflation
costs that really affect us um when it
comes time to actually perform the
services because it could be decades
down the road. Um so what we are doing
now is eliminating that. So now it will
be at need uh invoicing.
>> So I couldn't pay for my wife's funeral
in the future.
>> So you can pay for your lot fees um if
you do a colarium things like that there
like your plaques and stuff. All of that
will be done at the time that you
purchase, but your open and close fees
now will be done at the time of need.
Um, outside of that, if I go back to uh
the first two or some that we just
addressed, um, the closing of the
chapel, the chapel has been in pretty
poor shape. And Victor, Victor can, if
you want more information about that, he
can speak to a little bit more of the uh
context on the condition itself. Um, but
it is in poor condition. It takes a lot
to keep it going and it's really not
utilized by the public very often. Uh we
have talked with funeral homes and
things like that. All of them provide
this service. Um we think that's
probably why we don't end up using ours
very often. So the turnover and the
commitment and then the the uh actual
facility itself as far as what you're
experiencing when you're there um is
just not to the condition that we would
want it to be in for our community. Um,
so because of that, the chapel for the
public is closed at this time.
>> Right now?
>> Yes.
>> Forever?
>> For right now. Yes, we have had a
contractor come in. I'm sorry.
>> Are you just going to let it
disintegrate?
>> No. Uh, so we did have a contractor come
in. Victor uh recently spoke to them so
that we could get a true assessment of
what that looked like. Our next step in
that process is going to be to do an
abatement survey. Ultimately based on
the conditions that we find as far as
our experience with the building and
then the contractor itself it has to
come down. So ultimately it will either
it will need to come down and we will
need to explore do we do we build a
pavilion or something like that in its
place in the future? Do we rebuild a
chapel? But that's going to be a
long-term strategic planning move. Right
now we're just focused on the abatement
and the survey of what the structure is
right now.
the restroom.
>> Yes. So, the restroom that's in there
right now, it has a lot of plumbing
issues and failures and that's part of
the problem of it. So, as the chapel
itself is closed, the restroom there is
closed as well.
>> My mistake. I meant is there going to be
a restroom now?
>> That is not something that we've talked
about. Um, it can definitely be
something that we explore.
keeping in mind that that was not an
open facility generally. It was open on
a a funeral service basis as far as the
restroom goes, but um we can definitely
have those conversations.
>> How good is the administration building?
as far as
we're aware now, we haven't actually had
somebody to come in and look at it, but
the building as far as the
administration building is fine outside
of the HVAC will need to be addressed um
in the near future, but we are aware of
that.
And then the last thing there uh is
going to be our burial services. Um so
some of the information that we've
provided to you at some of the past
meetings has been that we are trying to
move more towards industry standards.
We're doing a lot of things that are not
aligned with traditional practices for
um cemetery operations. And what I mean
by that as far as our burial supplies is
we are actually going to a manufacturer,
the vendor that sells the liners that go
into the ground. And we are purchasing
those in bulk, which means we have a lot
of money in our budget that allows us to
purchase these in bulk. We have a
storage space on site where we're
storing these. And then we use our
equipment to lift these heavy uh liners
and take them out, which that is a a
time commitment in itself. It's a burden
on our equipment. and our equipment is
very old. Um so we have reached out to
um these local vendors as well as
funeral homes and we have coordinated
with all of them to traditionally the
industry standard is that the funeral
home will reach out to these vendors and
the vendors will come out and drop that
off to us into the hole. Um and so
that's how we're operating now. It's
going well. Uh we haven't had any issues
with it. Um that saves us um time
commitment as far as actually getting it
to the hole. Uh which is great for
staffing. It saves our equipment. Uh we
are in the process now of requesting new
equipment. So once that is um hopefully
approved, then we'll be on a really good
track moving forward as far as what that
looks like for sustainability and
operations.
Um and then in addition to that, we'll
have extra storage space on site. will
save the money in our budget that we
would normally push out to this. Um, so
it kind of really streamlines things for
us.
» That would be a question Victor would
have to answer for you.
>> Who does that work?
>> Uh, we have three vendors. Uh, Doric
out of uh, Grape Line. Then we have Wise
on the east side of Bonum and Wilbert
based out of Dallas. So they're they're
the ones actually come and set the
vaults and set their greens and lowering
device
and they can either order a concrete
liner or a metal concrete I'm sorry a
metal box with concrete uh insulated in
it.
And they have a lift on the truck.
>> Yes, they actually have a piece of
equipment is called a um dolly buddy
that actually is on wheels with a
generator and it's easily rem uh
maneuvered over the grave
and placed
right there on the Lauren device.
>> What what was called the vault? Is that
what you're
>> The vault is the box. The is the the
outside container. That's what you all
used to carry.
>> Yes.
» We we were paying up front for them in
bulk. Like Amanda said, we had a um GL
code that was for that line item, but
then we would turn around and build
either the family if they were not going
through a funeral home or build it in uh
the funeral home as a whole.
So now rather than trying to recoup that
money with burial fees, the family then
will pay for it from
>> and that that is something that around
North Texas about 99% of these
cemeteries we're doing.
>> So that's it's savings you have by no
longer providing this service.
>> Correct. We we will house one or two in
case of emergency.
the people coming from Gravine Dor had a
flat tire. We we'll have one or two on
standby in case of emergency. But yes,
that is something that these vendors
know what to do. They go to West Hill
Cedon, they know exactly what to do.
for all the other things having gone to
the
several out there the tent the I don't
know what you call the fake grass that
you lay down there
>> greens all those nice chairs all that
>> yes like Amanda was saying earlier that
is um broken down in the fee schedule so
that way it's transparent on what each
line item cost
>> absolutely yeah
>> and as far as the budget having gone
through the budget offsite
and eagerly awaiting the budget that'll
be presented on the 22nd of September.
What pieces of equipment either were or
are
like the new backho
in there and how can we as the advisory
committee get to the city council so we
can go a different route than you having
to go through.
probably not this year, but for next
year's budget.
>> So, we put in this year for cemeteries
um a bobcat. That's what we put in. Uh
we know that we're in some pretty budget
challenging times. And so, we felt like
that was very crucial for us because
ours is very old. It's got a lot of
hours on it. It's heavy wear and tear.
We use it daily, weekly. Um and that has
been a consistent top contender the
entire time that finance has presented
those. and they will come to city
council periodically. Lori Oabah, the
director of finance, she will come and
present on that and that's been a a very
top contender this entire time because
she knows that we've requested this
multiple years in a row. So, we feel
very confident. Of course, we don't know
what's going to happen. Um,
>> so you're filling that piece in even
though the 300,000 for the road work
stuff is not
>> correct. Yeah. No, that we did submit
that as well. It just didn't make the
top.
ought to be the go to the council and
ask to be heard
>> September 22nd.
>> Yeah. Very good.
>> And that was all of the administrative
and operational updates I have. If you
have any questions about any of that,
I'd be happy to answer them for you.
>> I have one more. Do we do the same type
of an update for the other four city
cemeteries? Magnolia for
iron ore
>> like in including them in this or I'm
sorry.
>> You ever address each cemetery
individually like this?
>> Uh
we when whenever we're doing these
updates for y'all, we will normally pick
the things we feel like are most um high
on our list as far as priorities for
y'all to know or for us to get your
advice. If you want to see something
that is like specific to an individual
area, we can definitely address that. We
are out at all of them every week on a
consistent basis doing different things.
We have stuff going on at Magnolia,
Oakwood, Ironor, and Fair View all this
week alone. Um, so we can definitely
always do that. It's just obviously Fair
View is much more active and so you get
a lot more uh information on that.
>> Do our due diligence as the cemetery
advisory board. I think
>> it doesn't all have to be at the same
time or at every meeting, but a cemetery
for meeting you have Sure.
You just want to see more updates on
those.
>> Correct.
>> Yeah, absolutely. We can do that for
you.
» Yes.
absolutely. We can do that.
» Uh we do burials in Magnolia, Oakwood,
and Fair View. We only sell out of Fair
View. That's correct. Right.
>> Correct.
» Yes.
>> They have to maintain.
>> We do.
Victor will do your operational updates.
Outside of that.
>> So, moving on to ops.
We were able to hire a contractor who
came out and removed the plaque
off the wall, the back of the wall, as
you can well see. Um, it looks like any
construction job, but it was well
patched
and well taken care of and a pole was
erected with the plaque on it slightly
angled to where people leaving the
cemetery can view it. And we've had many
offline comments on letting us know what
a good job that took place.
» Another lawn project that I've been
meaning to do with the staff out there
was maintain the Garden of Tranquility.
prior staff, superintendents and foremen
and other managers uh were able to piece
it together. But throughout time, just
like anybody's house, weeds will attack
it. So, as you can see on the left here
picture here, weeds everywhere out of
place. So we went and tilled it, pulled
all the weeds manually by hand, picking
up every pepper brook, laid massive
amounts of weed barrier, and we put um
mulch down and we maintained it by using
uh fertilizer in the correct areas,
trimmed it nice and neat, uh trimmed the backing of the bushes and the trees
that are surround the whole Garden of
Tranquility and made it just pop.
Where is that located?
>> In the back where you go to my shop
>> maintenance
>> to the maintenance shed back
>> southwest corner
>> west uh southwest. Yes, sir.
>> Okay. I paid for one
place,
but I request
don't put that red.
» This is the This is the moch that we
swapped out with yours.
Do do you remember the red that we had
to remove?
>> Yeah,
>> we this
>> Okay. This has been replaced. This red
that I'm seeing.
>> No, that is that is the reason. This is
the final product.
>> Used it
>> to save money.
>> Absolutely.
>> Yeah.
>> Recycle.
>> But I paid for it to be done
>> for in the garden tranquility.
>> No, the one
>> in the front the the two front flower
beds.
>> I said take it out. I'll replace. We we
had placed brown mulch and didn't like
it. She paid for it to be replaced.
>> So just to be
>> So I I I bag those up
and put them over a tarp.
>> Don't buy any more of the red. Okay.
>> Is there something wrong with the red,
if I may ask?
>> Yes. It doesn't it doesn't lend itself
to
a a lawn or cemeter. or whatever it's
decorative.
It's not
>> especially some denominations red is not
a good color.
>> But I applaud you for recycling. It's
>> my It's It's my It's my fifth year and
that's the only color we ever use. But
we will consider that.
>> Well, I understand. I understand. Yeah.
What you're saying.
>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is recycled mulch.
>> I commend you. It really looks nice.
Now,
>> thank you. My next question is I know
Reese across America uses the plug in
there. Last year it didn't work. So
electric
>> we have hot wire. We have uh we have hot
wired in now.
This is uh the north corner of 8491
which we have taken to the next level of
cleaning up because that area was
overgrown and I understand that some of
the other places on the north side might
be overgrown as well. But this was a
priority for me because it didn't
complement the fence that just got
placed. So obviously we have you the
board to thank for that. But I took the
whole vegetation away from the fence and
tilled it, seated it,
watered it, and you can see how it looks
now day and night.
>> Hope that grass comes back. It looks
really nice. Good job.
>> Thank you.
» And that concludes stops. Were you and I
drove around the whole cemetery
all those trees?
>> Yes. Um um Kurt and I we we discussed
before the meeting on something that
we're going to try
>> for
if you remember from last meeting
was here talking
Nice kind join those things and have
people who are going to be in clients to
customers but also have a chance to
sponsor a dead
but so what we're going to do next week
is I'm going to have a meeting with them
on behalf of the river museum
to talk about how it is set up.
» Well, that was my concern about
that tour
that we didn't have a chance to do some
of this before the tour was
just have the survey done by
» it would be helpful for me since I don't
think there's any other agendross
America
again
asking for that plug there.
History behind the stones is going to be
October 24th
and
talked about the other things. So, we
got a bobcat in the budget, but not
appreciate at least discussing each one
of the cemeteries.
» We can definitely do that for next
meeting. We'll have plenty of pictures.
of plenty of work that we did at
>> Oakwood.
Ironto
the before and after pictures were
amazing.
>> We stay on top of that for sure.
It's amazing how many years
neglected so much of this
as guilty as anybody else until I had
some
I think it's
just behooves us as a city to pay
attention to these all these cemeteries
that we're responsible Let me
Is there ever any time where the
cemetery advisory committee
provides a report or provides a
an update to the city council?
Um, I will probably ask whoever the new
city manager is that at a otherwise
lowkey
city council that once a year at least
the cemetery advisory board an update.
>> Uh, so since I have been here I I do not
know of anything that's official. Uh
what I will say is if you ever want to
do kind of like what we done on the
second part of the meeting today is like
a staff update or a project update
things like that where you're just
talking to them about your concerns or
things like that like we can always
coordinate. There are different
situations and times where we can put
that kind of stuff work with uh Chris
Wallentine or Chris Clerk on potentially
putting that on there. Um, and then also
you're always welcome to to email um,
and definitely have those conversations
as well. If you have a report that y'all
feel like you want to put together and
share, something that's more tangible,
you can do that as well. It's just not
something that has been done to my
knowledge.
>> What I'm bringing is in the same way
that I'm associated with planning and
zoning with historic preservation board.
>> We are now doing that too because we're
a city. We were supposed to advise the
city council on it and it was set up
this way. There's nothing that you all
>> are doing or not doing that is wrong.
>> It's just that our job supposedly is
also to advise the city council right
now. That is not being done
>> and it may have to start by going
through the city manager first
>> and then maybe hopefully talk to either
Christine or Karen and be able to get on
as an agenda item. Yes.
>> And it should be a fairly quick
agenda item. I would like to make it a
separate one.
>> Sure.
» And probably us, one of you
can't hear us. They can't listen to us.
>> I got you. Yes.
>> I want to be able to advocate for
getting the roads fixed, making sure the
bridges don't fall, taking trees, you
know, I don't want to have to wait until
the cat is broken to be able to get
another one.
>> Yeah,
>> that's what I see our job.
>> Keeps on the radar.
>> Yes, exactly.
>> Here they come again. Okay, now you got
to listen to
>> I agree. I'm all in favor of that.
>> Yeah, it started with the fence and I
think we can
>> Yes, I agree.
>> Okay.
I think that's the last agenda item, Mr.
Chair.
>> Okay. Um, no one else has anything.
I'll move for
second that.