Romeo clerk outlines cemetery transfer rules, proposes $150 processing fee and ordinance for perpetual care

Clerk Shelly Lucero told trustees the village lacks a recorded transfer policy for cemetery plots and presented a draft document adapted from another municipality to govern transfers and signatures.

Lucero said the proposed processing fee for transferring ownership is $150; she described that the fee covers office processing and record-keeping rather than grounds upkeep. She also said the village currently funds perpetual care through a resident millage and that a separate perpetual-care fee on transferred plots would require passage of an ordinance before it could be applied.

Trustees questioned whether $150 is appropriate for resident-to-resident transfers and asked whether the buyer or seller pays; Lucero said the buyer typically pays because they are registering ownership. Council members discussed limits on the village's ability to regulate secondary-market sales and debated a formula that referenced an amount equivalent to about 10 years of the current millage rate as a possible "not to exceed" calculation.

Lucero also summarized historical records searches: minutes from 1956 referencing an easement across the north edge of cemetery property and plans for a 1972 baseball diamond that showed drains and easements, but she said the school district and other partners are still investigating whether underground drains remain active. She said she and staff met with the school district and Barton & Mow to review retention-pond inlets and potential remediation; engineers told staff some retention pods could be overbuilt, but costs are uncertain.

No ordinance was adopted at the Feb. 24 meeting; trustees asked staff to bring a written ordinance and a clearer cost/fee recommendation to a future meeting for action.