Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Items not secured and in the grass at Riverview Memorial Gardens will be removed after July 9 per city ordinance. The items in the grass create more work for city crews in maintaining the cemetery grounds. Items secured on monuments and cement foundations will not be removed. Fresh flowers will only be removed after they lose their beautification.
WORLAND - The City of Worland is asking the public to help pick up items in the cemetery that are not secured in order for city crews to more efficiently and effectively maintain the cemetery grounds.
Public Works Superintendent Nick Kruger said in an interview last week that the city has allowed people to put decorations on and around headstones during holidays but have asked people to pick them up after a specific timeframe. However, people have been leaving decorations up year round and that has become an issue for the groundskeepers at the cemetery.
"What is supposed to be just for holiday decorations and other keepsakes turned into all year round and that has been going on for many, many, many years," Kruger said. The issue was discussed during the June 7 work session where the council, mayor and Kruger went on a tour of the Riverview Memorial Gardens.
Mayor Jim Gill said at Tueday's council meeting, "We are united to say that we are going to have to start enforcing ordinances regarding what can and cannot be placed at the cemetery."
He said, "It has gotten to the point that the keepsakes and flowers and whatever else are actually starting to leave the actual monuments and foundation area and are now all over the grass."
Kruger said sometimes it is the antelope that move things off the monuments.
"They play games out there where they will pick things up and carry it around; almost anyone who puts fresh flowers out there within a day the antelope have eaten them. We clean that kind of stuff up and the fresh flowers are easy as soon as they are wilted they are done. But a lot of the keepsakes, mementos, artificial flowers people will leave those on the gravesite and they won't clean those up afterward," Kruger said.
Wind can blow flowers around if they are not properly secured, whether fresh or silk arrangements. Antelope, wind or even cemetery visitors can knock keepsakes off, breaking them or having them fall on the grass.
Kruger said, "The city ordinance says that as soon as the item ceases to be a beautification of the cemetery, the cemetery staff have permission to remove them. They have done that. The last wind storm we had ripped a bunch of pinwheels apart."
He added that the cemetery, under city ordinance is considered a city park and thus no glass is allowed, at all.
"We have a lot of people who have brought out beer bottles, glass beads in vases for flower arrangements, they get knocked off, mowers can hit them. There is a safety issue," Kruger said, adding there is also a lot of porcelain items and some are older and chipped.
Items in the grass are currently being picked up by city staff and then put back. No items should be touching the grass, including signs with names or shepherd hooks where flowers or mementos are hung, he said.
The shepherd hooks don't break but they do eat the trimmer line from the edge trimmer.
"They affect the city operation for us being able to efficiently and effectively maintain the grounds.
It is taken an exorbitant amount of time for the city to maintain the cemetery," Kruger said. "It is right now at the point that it is unsustainable for the staff to continue to do what they have been doing, requiring additional staff just to remove the items and put them back. That was never the intent of the decorations."
He said after the tour on June 6 the council and mayor were in agreement to keep things on the foundation area of the monument and away from the grass and it needs to be secured.
Artificial flowers may be placed year-round in permitted holders as part of the monument. Fresh cut flowers may be placed on any gravesite at any time, they will be removed by city staff when the flowers cease to be a beautification.
Artificial flowers or other decorations may be placed at the gravesite during Memorial Day from the Friday before to the Sunday following. Mother's and Father's Day from the Thursday before till Sunday. Holiday wreaths up to 18-inches are permitted from Thanksgiving till Jan. 15.
Kruger said, "After any of these dates, city staff will remove all decorations for the continued maintenance of the Cemetery grounds. Any items to be kept should be removed before the end of the holiday."
With Memorial Day just a few weeks ago and the decision to remove items off the grass, the city is now asking people if they know they have items that are unsecured or in the grassy area to secure them on the foundation area or remove them by Friday, July 9.
Items left on the grass after the deadline will be removed by city staff.
"There are a lot of keepsakes right now and we don't want to throw them away," Kruger said. "People have through the Fourth of July to secure or pickup their keepsakes at Riverview Memorial Gardens."
Kruger said that anyone with concerns, comments or questions is asked to contact him at city hall, 347-2486, Extension 110.
"This decision was not taken lightly. It took a lot of effort between the city council, the mayor and my office to ensure we came up with a solution that is appropriate to the significance of what the cemetery reflects," Kruger said.
