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Cusseta–Chattahoochee County adopts ordinance to regulate Harmony Public Cemetery
Summary
The Commission adopted Ordinance No. 2025-1 to add Chapter 20 Article III on cemetery administration, establishing superintendent duties, interment rules, sale and transfer procedures, maintenance standards and fines of up to $500 for violations.
The Commission of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County adopted Ordinance No. 2025-1 to regulate the county-operated Harmony Public Cemetery, adding Article III to Chapter 20 of the county code.
The ordinance, included in the Oct. 7 minutes, establishes definitions (cemetery, plot, interment, perpetual care), designates the county manager as superintendent of cemeteries responsible for care and records, requires written owner authorization for burials on private lots, and directs the county to maintain records of ownership and interments. It also requires interment permits in accordance with Georgia law, sets scheduling and excavation rules, and restricts burials to human remains.
The text sets standards for markers and monuments (durable stone or metal; temporary markers to be replaced within 12 months), gives the county authority to regulate decorations and remove items deemed unsafe or unsightly, and requires transfers of lot ownership to be approved and recorded by the county. Violations may carry fines up to $500 per offense and civil enforcement; each day a violation continues is a separate offense. The ordinance preserves application of Article II (Public Conduct in Parks) to cemetery grounds.
The record in the minutes shows readings and a public hearing on the measure earlier in the month cycle (first reading Aug. 25, second reading Sept. 2, public hearing Sept. 22) and an adoption entry dated Sept. 22, 2025 listing affirmative votes. The ordinance text in the minutes designates the county manager and Code Enforcement Department to enforce the rule and states the ordinance takes effect on adoption unless otherwise specified.
What happens next: enforcement will fall to the county manager acting as cemetery superintendent and to county code enforcement; the ordinance authorizes recordkeeping and a schedule of fees by commission resolution. The minutes do not list a fee schedule in the text of the ordinance; the county will set fees by separate resolution, as the ordinance delegates.
Sources: Minutes of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County Commission regular meeting, Oct. 7, 2025 (Ordinance No. 2025-1 text and readings).
