Bluff staff propose cemetery board, town to pursue transfer of recent-plot area from San Juan County

Town staff presented a draft ordinance Oct. 28 to create a Bluff Cemetery Board and the position of cemetery sexton to manage operations and to allow the town to collect fees for a recently used section of Bluff Cemetery. The draft focuses on governance and basic operating rules; staff said the section under discussion is a 112-by-8-foot parcel in the town's northwest area that already contains sold plots and that the Bluff Cemetery Board has mainly worked with that section.

Staff said San Juan County currently administers the Bluff Cemetery and that the county commission is supportive of transferring the specific plot to the town, but that a professional survey is required to confirm boundaries before transfer paperwork and any formal resolution are completed. The town noted it is conducting surveying work, including ground-penetrating radar (GPR), to assess feasibility and exact limits.

Josh Ewing, who identified himself as the incoming mayor, thanked staff for the work on the ordinance and suggested the town consider an open-house format to make the public review process more accessible than a series of three-minute public-comment slots. No formal vote on the cemetery ordinance was taken at the meeting; staff opened the draft for public comment and set a written-comment deadline of 5 p.m. Nov. 7.

The draft ordinance does not address the historic Pioneer Cemetery or the area currently administered by San Juan County to the south; staff emphasized the draft applies only to the identified modern-plots area. Next steps listed by staff include completing the survey, preparing transfer paperwork with San Juan County, and returning a finalized ordinance to the council for further action.