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Council approves ordinance to bring Hillside Cemetery management and funds under city control
Summary
The council approved ordinance 8‑13‑26 to repeal and re-create city code sections governing Hillside Cemetery, move management oversight to the city, and remove fee schedules from the ordinance to be placed in the fee schedule. City legal review and a title search found deeds indicating the city holds title to the cemetery land.
The Committee of the Whole approved ordinance 8‑13‑26 on March 3 to repeal and re-create chapters of the city code governing Hillside Cemetery and to place cemetery fees in the city fee schedule rather than in the ordinance itself. The motion to approve the ordinance with fees removed passed by voice vote.
Supporters of the change said financial oversight should run through standard city processes. A council member who spoke in favor of repeal said the city should manage city financials centrally: “anything where there's financial financials within the city, we should be tying those to the city and we should be operating them through the city's standard processes,” the council member said (Alder, speaker 3).
The city attorney reported a title search by Wisconsin River Title Company that, according to the attorney, turned up multiple deeds conveying land to the city and found no deeds showing ownership by the Hillside Cemetery Association. That attorney said, “we have not found any deeds that suggest the Hillside Cemetery Association has any owners ownership in the land itself,” and indicated the city would rely on the title company's findings (City attorney, speaker 7).
Council members discussed practical details of the transfer of funds and ongoing liaison roles. Several councilors asked that donated funds and existing investments be tracked in the city's accounting system and placed in the cemetery special revenue fund (Fund 235). City staff said donated funds can be tracked in the city’s accounting software so expenditures can be tied to those revenues (City administrator / finance staff, speaker 6).
Members also debated whether the Hillside Cemetery Association would be dissolved (it would not), whether the city should continue to appoint a liaison to the association until its bylaws change, and how fees for niches and chapel rental should be handled. Council agreed to remove fees from the ordinance and put fee amounts into the separate fee schedule so amounts can be adjusted administratively.
The ordinance as approved will move management authority and financial tracking responsibilities to the city while leaving the voluntary association as a separate entity under its own bylaws. The council did not dissolve the association; rather, it adjusted the municipal code to clarify the city's administrative role. The ordinance passed at the March 3 meeting and will be implemented by the city as directed by staff and the public spaces committee.
