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City staff reports progress on Veterans Memorial; judge orders exhumation at cemetery
Summary
City staff said statues for the Veterans Memorial have arrived and restroom work is near completion; staff also told the council of recurring cemetery deed errors and a judge-ordered exhumation in the coming weeks tied to a 1970s murder investigation.
City staff on Monday told the council that work on the Veterans Memorial is moving forward and that the city is preparing for a judge-ordered exhumation at a local cemetery. Speaker 3, who oversees parks and cemetery operations, said the memorial’s restroom building has plumbing and electrical roughed in, painting is largely finished and "all of our statues are here" after they were unwrapped and inspected.
The update noted the city again participated in Wreaths Across America this year by assembling veteran lists, marking graves and supporting wreath placement and later cleanup. Speaker 3 said volunteers coordinated the effort and that the event "went well this year."
On cemetery operations, Speaker 3 reported the department has in recent months discovered long-standing errors in plot assignments and has been resolving those by swapping deeds and coordinating with affected families when possible. "We did find another one just yesterday that we've had to scramble and would luckily, we were able to resolve it quite easy," Speaker 3 said.
Staff also notified the council of a judge-ordered exhumation tied to a homicide from the early 1970s. Speaker 3 said an earlier excavation reached about 5 feet without locating remains; a detective has requested a deeper excavation, to about 7 feet, and the department is working to secure trench boxes and equipment for a deeper dig scheduled within the next few weeks. The speaker cautioned that conditions and required equipment are constraining timing.
The account to council separated routine maintenance and volunteer-driven memorial work from the law-enforcement-directed exhumation. The city said it has implemented new internal procedures intended to reduce mistaken burials going forward.
The council did not take formal action during the briefing; staff said they would proceed with coordination for the exhumation and continue family outreach regarding deed adjustments.
