Cusseta–Chattahoochee adopts Ordinance No. 2025‑1 to regulate public cemeteries

The Commission of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County adopted Ordinance No. 2025‑1 on Oct. 7, 2025, creating a new Article III in Chapter 20 of the county code to regulate the operation and maintenance of the Cusseta‑Chattahoochee Harmony Public Cemetery. The ordinance makes the County Manager the superintendent of county‑owned cemeteries and requires the county to keep records of lot ownership and interments.

Under the ordinance, sales of lots convey only the right of interment, transfers must be approved and recorded by the county, and all interments require a burial permit issued in accordance with Georgia law and must be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance. The text requires graves to be opened and closed by licensed professionals or county‑authorized personnel and restricts interment to human remains.

The ordinance also authorizes county regulation of monument size and placement, requires temporary markers to be replaced with permanent markers within 12 months, and reserves to the county the right to remove decorations deemed unsafe or in violation of the rules. Routine maintenance of common areas and access roads is assigned to the county; individual lot maintenance remains the owner’s responsibility. Violations are subject to fines up to $500 per offense and civil enforcement; each day a violation continues is a separate offense.

The ordinance record in the minutes lists a first reading on Aug. 25, 2025; a second reading on Sept. 2, 2025; and a public hearing on Sept. 22, 2025. The commission’s recorded vote on Oct. 7 is recorded as unanimous in the minutes.