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Bluff posts draft cemetery ordinance, seeks survey before transfer from San Juan County
Summary
Bluff officials presented a draft ordinance to create a town cemetery board and a sexton position and to allow the town to collect fees for plots in a recent section of Bluff Cemetery; town staff said a land survey is required before the parcel can be transferred from San Juan County.
Bluff officials on Oct. 28 presented a draft ordinance to create a Bluff Cemetery Board, establish a sexton position and authorize the town to collect fees for plots in a recently used portion of Bluff Cemetery.
The proposal covers a roughly 112-by-8-foot area in the cemetery’s northwestern section that currently contains sold plots, staff said. Erin Nelson, who introduced the ordinance at the joint Town Council and Planning & Zoning hearing, described the draft as the structural foundation for day-to-day cemetery operations and said the town intends to transfer responsibility and records for that specific parcel from San Juan County to the town once a survey is completed.
Why it matters: The change would move local control of one parcel from the county to the town and create a town-level board and personnel authority — steps that would allow Bluff to set operating procedures and fees for burials and maintenance.
Josh Ewing, a public commenter who identified himself during the hearing, praised the amount of work put into the proposed code but urged the town to hold informal public open-house sessions so residents can more easily digest the many pages of draft ordinances. "It may be helpful for us to have some sort of public open house, something a little more less formal than three-minute public comments," Ewing said.
Town staff and a council member noted San Juan County’s support for the transfer in principle but said a formal survey is needed to specify legal boundaries before the town can complete the paperwork to accept the parcel. No members of the public in the room or online asked questions specific to the cemetery during the allotted public-comment period.
What’s next: Officials said written public comment is being accepted through 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7. The council did not take a final vote on the ordinance during the Oct. 28 hearing; staff said additional procedural steps and paperwork will follow once the survey is complete.
