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Committee hears proposal for cemetery 'probing' fee after more than a dozen requests
Summary
Councilor Cody told the committee more than 13 requests to probe graves for urn size have required staff time and proposed a fee to offset administrative and labor costs; the council chair said any fee would need full city-council approval and members discussed a $50–$55 range.
Council member Cody told the Lebanon City Council committees that staff have received over a dozen requests to probe graves to determine urn sizes and that the work requires significant staff time and record searches. Cody said probing can take an hour or more of two employees' time and cited roughly $55 as an example city cost for probing and record work.
“Maybe it's a rock. Maybe it's what we're looking for,” Cody said, describing the time-consuming nature of locating burial records and probing a site when cemetery records lack urn-size details. He said the requests number more than 13 and that the proposed fee would help offset staff time and costs for locating cut cards and physically probing a site.
Chair George told the committee that any fee must be adopted by the full city council at its next meeting and would require a motion—not merely a committee recommendation. Committee discussion noted both a $55 operational cost cited by staff and a $50 flat-rate figure that had been circulated; members did not finalize an amount during the committee session.
The committee did not adopt a fee at this meeting. Staff indicated the proposal will go to the city council for a formal vote, and Cody said the fee would also support sign posts and other cemetery maintenance costs. No amendments or formal votes were recorded in the committee portion of the meeting.
