Editors note: The Guymon Daily Herald is posting the general rules and regulations of the Elmhurst Cemetery out of courtesy due to recent events.
The following rules and regulations are hereby adopted by the Board of Cemetery Trustees of the City of Guymon (Board).
Whenever the term “Board” appears in these rules and regulations, it shall mean the Cemetery Board of the City of Guymon, Oklahoma.
GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS
1. All references in these rules to Elmhurst Cemetery, the Guymon City Cemetery or the Cemetery, shall mean the Cemetery owned and operated by the City of Guymon known as Elmhurst Cemetery.
2. The Cemetery is maintained for the interment of deceased persons without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, age or national origin.
3. Hours of admission to the cemetery are from 8:00 a.m. to sunset. The Cemetery will be closed at all other times.
4. No funeral shall be permitted on a Sunday or a holiday observed by the City of Guymon. Funerals should be scheduled to be finished at the Cemetery by 4:30 p.m. (Holidays include New Years Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.) Any variance must be approved in advance with the Cemetery Sexton. The Cemetery Sexton may grant a variance under unusual circumstances and set the fee.
5. Graves shall not be opened for interment until the office of the Guymon City Clerk has determined the property owner of record or the owner’s designee. The employees of the City of Guymon must perform all openings and closings of graves. A schedule of grave service charges will be furnished upon application at the office of the City Clerk and fees are to be paid or arrangements are to be made in advance. A minimum of ten (10) working hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday except holidays) must be allowed between request of burial and time of service. Funeral Directors must mark the location of a burial in the presence of the Cemetery Sexton or his designee.
6. The term “space” used herein means a single burial area. The term “lot” as used herein means an area containing more than one space.
7. Lots in the Cemetery shall be conveyed by certificate signed by the Mayor and counter-signed by the Clerk under the seal of the City of Guymon. The certificate shall show the price, for which the lots are sold and specify that the person to whom it is issued is the owner of the lot or lots described therein by number, as laid down in the plat, for the purpose of internment. The certificate shall vest in the purchaser and his heirs a right to the lot or lots, for the sole purpose of internment, under the rules and regulations of the City of Guymon, present or future, as adopted by the Board and approved and adopted by the City of Guymon. The City of Guymon reserves the right of entry upon the described lot for maintenance, opening and closing of internment spaces on nearby Cemetery lots or for other purposes deemed necessary or proper by the City of Guymon for upkeep, maintenance and other necessary Cemetery operations. All abandoned lots or spaces in lots shall revert to the City of Guymon. By acceptance of this certificate, the purchaser agrees to be bound by its terms and all rules and regulations governing use of the lot or space.
8. The City of Guymon shall have the power to remedy and correct errors made in interments, disinterment, removals, relocations, or the description, transfer or conveyance of any lot or space by substituting in lieu thereof a similar lot or space of equal value and location as selected by the City of Guymon and the Cemetery Board, or by refunding the amount paid for the property, or by other proper adjustments or settlement as the City of Guymon, in its sole discretion, may determine. If the error involves interment in the property, the City of Guymon and the Cemetery Board shall have the power to remove and relocate or transfer the remains to another lot or space.
9. Interment in one (1) grave space shall be limited to burials of:
One (1) adult and one (1) infant child,
Or two (2) infants,
Or two (2) cremains,
Or one (1) casket,
Or one (1) cremain,
Or one (1) casket and one (1) cremain.
Only one (1) marker or monument may be placed per space with the exception of a Veterans marker or a family lot of four (4) spaces to ten (10) spaces in which event an additional family stone may be placed on the lot. No interment of any body other than that of a human being will be permitted.
10. All interments are required to be in a casket or urn constructed of durable materials approved in advance by the Cemetery Sexton.
11. Societies or Lodges owning lots must have a written order for interment signed by the President or Secretary of the Order.
12. When two (2) or more persons are named on a certificate as owners of a lot, the lot may not be divided. All owners have equal rights of internment.
13. Disinterment for removal, relocations or transfer for any purpose will not be allowed until a permit from the State Health Department is presented and approval is granted by the Cemetery Sexton. The Cemetery Sexton must have one week’s notice prior to any disinterment or removal. The City of Guymon will not provide disinterment services.
14. In the event a lot owner dies intestate (without a will), the decedent’s heirs become the owners of the lot. Abandoned lots or spaces shall revert to the City of Guymon.
15. The Cemetery Sexton is responsible for administration and maintenance of the Cemetery, including grass mowing and trimming, pruning of shrubs and trees, raking and cleaning of the grounds and other necessary landscape and grounds maintenance.
16. Lot owners desiring to provide private care and maintenance for their lots may arrange to do so by written request to the Cemetery Sexton, or City Clerk. Private lot care and maintenance by owners must meet Cemetery standards. The Cemetery Sexton will notify owners of lots not being maintained in accordance with Cemetery standards and following such notice lot maintenance shall be resumed by Cemetery personnel.
17. The City of Guymon and Cemetery personnel shall not maintain or be responsible for maintenance, repair or replacement of any memorial, marker, monument, mausoleum or other property placed or erected upon any lot.
18. Cemetery employees are prohibited from performing work for lot owners.
19. No lot or space site shall be covered with any material other than growing natural grasses.
20. No lot or space shall, after the date of these rules and regulations, be enclosed by edging, fence, curb, coping or border of any kind.
21. Any personal property or objects, including boxes, chairs, settees, glass vases, shells, trinkets, toys, faded or discolored deteriorated natural or artificial floral arrangements or displays or clutter or unsightly articles of any kind which, in the judgment of the Cemetery Sexton, detract from the dignity and appearance of the Cemetery shall not be permitted on any lot or space.
22. The Cemetery Sexton shall have authority to remove any floral designs, flowers, weeds, trees, shrubs, plants or herbage of any kind, from the Cemetery as soon as, in the judgment of the Cemetery Sexton, they become unsightly, dangerous, detrimental, or diseased or when they do not conform to the rules and regulations. All spring decorations must be removed by July 10. All winter decorations must be removed by April 15.
23. Persons desiring to retain fresh floral design and floral pieces shall remove them from graves within ten days following burial. Cemetery employees will not be responsible for any such items after their removal from a lot or space.
24. No lot owner shall plant spreading grasses or plant or remove flowers, trees, and shrubs of any type, without the written permission of the Cemetery Sexton.
25. Sprinkler systems will be allowed at the Cemetery, but installation must take place after November 1 and before April 15 while the water is shut off for the winter. Systems can be checked for leaks on the first workday after April 15. All water taps or connections on the main line shall be made only by a licensed plumber. Lot owners shall provide the Cemetery Sexton with the name of a person who will be responsible for the sprinkler system if maintenance or repairs are required. If the responsible party cannot be contacted in the event of a leak or malfunction, the system will be shut off. Cemetery employees will not operate manual sprinklers for the lot owners.
26. Over-watering lots and common areas, allowing water to run off, and unattended watering is prohibited. Sprinkler systems shall not need to be attended, but checked for over-watering and run off often. If a problem is not taken care of by lot owner in a reasonable amount of time, the Sexton shall have the system or sprinkler shut off. During the times that the City of Guymon has implemented water rationing, the City of Guymon will decide what days watering is allowed at the cemetery and post those days at the entrances.
27. Only licensed city employees or licensed professionals can make chemical applications at the Cemetery. No unlicensed individual will be allowed to spray chemicals. All licensed professionals need prior approval from the Cemetery Sexton.
28. No advertising sign, cards or media of any type indicating that a lot, space, vault or other property is for sale, shall be permitted in the Cemetery.
29. The Cemetery Sexton or Board shall have the right to prohibit placement of any object, property or structure of any kind in the Cemetery which, in their judgment, is inappropriate, objectionable or in any way inconsistent with maintenance of the dignity and appearance of the Cemetery.
30. Pulling, cutting, breaking, destroying or harming any landscape material, flowers, trees, plants or shrubs, or defacing any monument, marker, building, equipment or other structure in the Cemetery is prohibited.
31. Any overhang or encroachment upon walks, parkways, driveways, lots, spaces, or graves created by any landscape material, flowers, shrubs, border plants, trees or by monuments or corner markers is prohibited. The Cemetery Sexton shall request the lot owner to correct the violation. If the violation is not corrected within a reasonable time not to exceed ten days, the Cemetery Sexton shall remove and eliminate the object which creates the overhang or encroachment violation.
32. No person shall ride a horse at any location in the Cemetery except when participating in a funeral service, in which event horses shall be ridden only upon roads, streets and lanes in the Cemetery.
33. No person shall allow a domestic animal to go upon the Cemetery property either upon a leash or at large. Domestic animals must be kept inside of vehicles while at the Cemetery.
34. The sale of more than a total of ten (10) grave spaces to any person, group of persons, firms or corporations, shall be permitted only upon the approval of the Board.
35. No lot or space in Elmhurst Cemetery shall be sold other than by the City of Guymon. Persons desiring to sell unused lots or spaces can only sell them to the City of Guymon for the price paid. Any transfers of old property needs to be documented at the City of Guymon for filing.
36. Before selling an Cemetery monument or marker for use within the Cemetery, the Seller shall provide the purchasers a copy of all rules and regulations pertaining to the placement and use of such monument or marker and shall disclose clearly whether the monument or marker of the kind to be sold can be lawfully placed upon the lot or space desired within Elmhurst Cemetery.
37. Trees or plants constituting an obstruction to a burial will be removed. The City of Guymon will not be responsible for replanting or replacement of trees or plants so removed.
38. Trees or other plants containing more than 50 % dead material as determined by the Cemetery Sexton will not be removed until the owner is properly notified. The City of Guymon will not be responsible for replanting or replacement of trees or plants so removed.
39. Children under fifteen (15) years of age are not permitted within the Cemetery, unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
40. The speed limit in the Cemetery for all vehicles shall be 10 miles per hour (MPH). Vehicles are only allowed on paved areas and alleys. Only vehicles legal to travel on public streets are allowed in the Cemetery.
41. Any person, firm or corporation, who violates any provision in these rules and regulation, shall be subject to a fine as provided in Section 18-104 of the Guymon City Ordinances.