Department of General Services

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• Department of General Services
• May 12, 2014

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Briefing Overview

• Future vision
• City owned cemeteries
• Cemetery responsibilities
• First steps towards improvement
• Current condition of cemeteries
• Current maintenance and operations budget
• Current challenges
• Mount Calvary Cemetery Complex

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Future Vision

• Revitalize cemeteries by creating park-like
  settings that invite visitors
• Install park benches
• Install historic signage
• Install water fountains
• Install matching trash receptacles
• Increase overall lawn-care maintenance

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Future Vision (continued)

• Capitalize on the historic significanceof our
  cemeteries
• Tap into a new tourism market with our Path of
  History

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Current City Cemeteries

• Cedar Grove Cemetery
• Oak Grove Cemetery
• Olive Branch Cemetery
• Mount Calvary Cemetery Complex
• Mount Calvary
• Mount Olive
• Fishers Hill (will take ownership in July 2014)
• Paupers Field

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Cedar Grove Cemetery
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Oak Grove Cemetery
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Olive Branch Cemetery
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Mount Calvary Cemetery Complex
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Fishers Hill
Mt. Olive
Paupers Field
Mt. Calvary
Mt. Calvary Cemetery Complex
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Brief History

• Prior to 1960 City owned managed the
  following cemeteries
• Cedar Grove
• Oak Grove
• Olive Branch
• 1960 City sold all of its vacant grave sites to
  a private entity and entered an agreement with
  Wimbrough and Sons to manage burial operations at
  all cemeteries
• 1964 City sold the land east of Olive Branch
  Cemetery to Wimbrough and Sons and adopted an
  ordinance designating this land the Olive Branch
  Cemetery Annex

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Current Cemetery Responsibilities

• Contractor Wimbrough and Sons
• Sale of vacant graves
• Digging of graves
• Record Keeping
• Scheduling interment services with funeral homes
• City
• Grass cutting
• Removal of flowers
• Road maintenance
• Repair of grave sites
• Trash and debris removal

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First Improvement Steps

• We have reorganized the cemetery operationsand
  created a Cemetery Superintendent usingan
  existing position
• Worked with the Sheriffs Office to develop an
  agreement for regular grass cutting and weeding
• Developed partnerships with private groupsto
  improve our historic cemeteries
• Developed a plan to reach the goal of a 7-daycut
  cycle for all cemeteries

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First Improvement Steps (continued)

• Major clean-up of old brush, debris and old
  flowers
• Regularly remove old flowers and memorials
• Reviewing the existing City Code and looking
  toward developing a reasonable schedule for
  enforcement
• Installing signage that clearly states what is
  acceptable in our cemeteries under the existing
  code

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Current ConditionsIn City Cemeteries

• Cedar Grove
• Grass is on a 7-10 day cut cycle.
• Replacing historic markers
• Remade the Scatter Garden
• Regularly repairing historic graves
• Regularly repairing cave-ins
• Very good staff relationship with the Cedar Grove
  Cemetery Foundation

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Current Conditions (continued)

• Oak Grove Cemetery
• Grass is on a 7-10 day cut cycle.
• Completed major clean-up of old brushand
  overgrowth
• Replaced fencing where needed
• Ordered new signage

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Current Conditions (continued)

• Olive Branch Cemetery
• Grass is on a 7-10 day cut cycle
• Completed major clean-up of old brush and
  overgrowth
• Regularly removing old flowers
• Moved grave-digging equipment out of sight
• Covering work areas with appropriate fencing
• Ordered new signage

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Current Conditions (continued)

• Mount Calvary Cemetery Complex
• Grass is on a 7-10 day cut cycle.
• Completed a topographical survey
• Removing brush, debris and overgrowth
• Removing un-necessary trees
• Developing a plan to repair cave-ins
• Meeting with ERC to discuss drainage issues
• Improving roadways using old crushed asphalt from
  High Street re-paving (a temporary fix)

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Current Funding

• The perpetual care fund currently totals
  1,544,083
• Should appropriate annual earnings from the
  investment of these funds to cemetery maintenance
• Current earnings are insufficient to cover total
  cost of cemetery maintenance
• Current 2013-2014 budget (cost) is 220,420
• Ideal annual budget is 470,000

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2014-2015 Proposed Budget

• The proposed budgeted funds for cemetery
  maintenance is 280,0000 which incorporates
  several improvements in efficiency
• Cemetery Superintendent
• Lower contract price by utilizing the Work
  Release Program
• Certain infrastructure improvements

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Current Challenges

• Compliance with the City Code
• Mt. Calvary, Mt. Olive, Fishers Hill
  andPaupers Field condition
• Serious Drainage issues are persistent at this
  cemetery. A complete drainage plan should be
  done for this area. The amount of work to be done
  is far beyond what the Perpetual Care Fund will
  ever be able to addressThere is no way this
  project could be handled within the Perpetual
  Care Fund or General Operating Budget. This will
  be a large project and will take numerous years
  to complete.
• Excerpt from the November 16, 2006
• City Cemeteries Perpetual Care Fund 10-Year
  Master Plan, page 16

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City Code on Enclosures and DecorationsSection
9-47 and Section 9-48

• No enclosures, flower beds, hedges or borders of
  any kind will be permitted around or alongside
  of any grave.
• Nor ornaments or decorations other than cut or
  artificial flowers shall be placed on any grave
• Flags may be place on graves on Memorial Day
• Floral designs may be used at burials, but shall
  be removed from lots within ten days
  thereafter.

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City Code on Monuments and GravestonesSection
9-41 and Section 9-42

• A monument is any stone that projects more than
  24 inches above the ground
• A gravestone must be between 4 and 12 inches
  thick and no more than 24 inches wide
• A gravestone can be nor more than six inches
  above the ground
• A grave can have only one stone.
• All stones and monument foundations must be at
  least 4 feet into the ground

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Mount Calvary Cemetery ComplexMt. CalvaryMt.
OliveFishers HillPaupers Field
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Future Goals

• Restore the cemetery and the sanctitythat it
  deserves
• Have the cemetery placed on the National Register
  of Historic Places
• Through the National Park Service
• Develop the documentation that will identify the
  cemetery as one of Americas historic and
  archeological resources

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Future Goals (continued)

• Have the cemetery become a part of the Network
  to Freedom
• Through the National Park Service
• Develop the documentation to support the
  identification of the cemetery as a place
  associated with the Underground Railroad and
  thereby allowing it to become part of a network
  of Underground Railroad historical sites
• Expand the cemetery with additionalgrave sites
  to support thePerpetual Care Fund

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City of Portsmouth
Fishers Hill
Mt. Olive
Paupers Field
Mt. Calvary
City of Portsmouth
City of Portsmouth
City of Portsmouth

• Current combined cemetery boundaries
• Proposed new boundaries for cemetery and sale
  of grave sites

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Collaborative Community Efforts

• African American Historical Society is the
  supporting foundation - Mae Breckenridge
• Application for the National Register and
  Network to Freedom historical documentation
  Nadia and Brenda Orton
• Grant writer Margaret Windley
• Volunteerism and clean-up champion Christina
  Carlton

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Timeline of Activity

• December, March, April Volunteer and City Staff
  meetings
• April
• Successful grant of 4,000 to remove decaying
  trees / trees that are damaging grave sites
• Completion of aerial survey and first step in
  developing design for remediation of drainage
  problem

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Timeline of Activity (continued)

• July Notice of Hearing for the City to
  officially take possession of Fishers Hill
  Cemetery
• Next step submit applications for the National
  Register and Network to Freedom
• Fall Completion of design documents for solving
  the drainage issue and development of new grave
  sites to support perpetual care

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