[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.