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County adopts ordinance to regulate public cemeteries
Summary
The County Commission adopted Ordinance No. 2025-1 to regulate the Cusseta–Chattahoochee County Harmony Public Cemetery, naming the county manager superintendent, requiring records, setting interment rules and permitting fines up to $500 per offense.
The Commission of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County on Oct. 7 adopted Ordinance No. 2025-1 to regulate its public cemetery, establishing rules for ownership records, interments, markers and maintenance.
The ordinance amends Chapter 20 (Article III — Cemeteries). It designates the County Manager as superintendent of county-owned cemeteries, requires a county-maintained record of ownership and interments, and makes sale of lots a right of interment rather than transfer of land. The text requires burial permits under Georgia law, mandates that graves be excavated and closed by licensed professionals or county-authorized personnel, and allows the county to regulate marker size, placement and decorations. The ordinance states it takes effect immediately upon adoption and that conflicting ordinances are repealed except for public-conduct rules that remain in Article II.
The ordinance also includes enforcement provisions: violations may result in fines of up to $500 per offense and civil enforcement; each day a violation continues is a separate offense. The county retains authority to deny future burial services for repeat or egregious violations. The measure passed on a unanimous vote after a motion to approve by Commissioner Damon Hoyte and a second from Commissioner Gerald Douglas.
Why it matters: the ordinance centralizes management of the county cemetery under the County Manager, clarifies sale and transfer rules for lots, and creates an enforcement mechanism to address unsafe or unsightly decorations. Implementation details — including the fee schedule for lot purchases and interment services — are to be set by county resolution and reviewed annually per the ordinance text.
Provenance: The motion to approve and vote are recorded in the meeting minutes (motion and vote noted Oct. 7, 2025); the ordinance text and sections appear in the meeting packet and the minutes under Ordinance No. 2025-1 (draft changes to Chapter 20, Article III, Secs. 20-31 through 20-37).
