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Fairfield council discusses cemetery documentation, delays ordinance pending rules and ownership review
Summary
Councilors discussed hiring someone to document headstones at the town cemetery to meet a state historical society requirement, debated whether to contract or hire the worker, and tabled a planned ordinance change after discovering unclear property ownership and incomplete rules and regulations.
Fairfield councilors discussed steps to document and preserve headstones at the town cemetery and postponed an ordinance change after staff and councillors identified missing rules and unresolved property-ownership records.
The council considered paying a contractor to photograph and GPS-locate every grave marker so the town could comply with a requirement from the state historical society that the cemetery be documented. Council members and staff described a short-term field job — estimated at roughly 40 hours by one participant — to take photos and record location data for upload into a database, and suggested the cemetery board’s daughter could do the work under contract with assistance from an on-call town employee.
Council members debated whether to classify the work as a short-term contract or a casual part-time job, with staff noting payroll and 1099 thresholds could apply if hours exceed certain limits. Staff also said such work would be allowable from cemetery maintenance funds if money exists in the current budget, but that a budget amendment would be required if it were not budgeted.
The council had planned to rescind two existing ordinances (Title 6.7 and Title 2.1) and adopt a replacement (to be called Title 6.75) that would reorganize cemetery governance, but the item was tabled. Members said the companion rules and regulations referenced in the new ordinance were not finished, and they did not want to adopt an ordinance that refers to missing implementing language.
During discussion councilors and members of the public also flagged a separate issue: the cemetery’s legal status on county maps and in deed records. The Onyx/Utah County map lists a “Fairfield Cemetery District” and shows a recorded quitclaim deed dated June 27, 2023; the map’s secondary owner field shows a name appearing as “Bard Gurney” (participants said they believe the correct name is Brad Gurney). Council members asked staff to research county records and the cemetery’s historic service-district paperwork before returning the ordinance for a future vote.
Councilors also discussed an existing program to level sunken graves and otherwise stabilize monuments; staff and cemetery volunteers said that effort would continue as part of cemetery maintenance.
Council members directed staff to: (1) confirm whether budget funds are available for a short-term contractor to document headstones and, if so, prepare a procurement or contract approach; and (2) research deed and ownership records for the cemetery district and return with the rules and the corrected ordinance language before placing the ordinance on a future agenda.
