Request for cemetery mowing moved to budget deliberations

BARRHEAD-A Barrhead area resident will have to wait a little longer to see if the Town of Barrhead granted her request.

On Oct. 27, councillors referred a request from Sandra McBeth, who wanted the municipality to take over the yard maintenance, of the All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church cemetery, in its 2021 budget deliberations.

In a letter, McBeth stated that for the past five years a small group has been hiring someone to cut the grass around the graveyard out of their own pocket.

Coun. Don Smith suggested moving the request to their upcoming budget deliberations starting in early November. He also asked the administration to put an estimated dollar value on the request.

Coun. Rod Klumph asked if the graveyard was still in active use.

LeBlanc said yes, adding the last burial was in 2018.

Coun Ty Assaf was surprised that the municipality wasn’t already mowing the cemetery.

"Aren't cemeteries the jurisdiction of municipalities?" he asked.

Development and legislative services director Cheryl Callihoo said only if the municipality owns them.

However, she said in most cases, they are privately owned, most often, such as this case, by churches.

Mayor Dave McKenzie added cemetery maintenance seems to be a growing issue for many community groups.

"It is my understanding that a couple of other cemeteries have also asked for assistance," he said.

Penny agreed, saying that most cemeteries are owned by churches and are maintained by volunteers.

"Until they are too old to look after it. After that one of two things usually happens, either it falls into disrepair or a request comes to a municipality to look after it," she said.

Currently, two other cemeteries have asked the municipality for assistance. Their requests will also be added to council's 2021 budget deliberations.

McBeth agreed with Penny's assessment. In an interview with the Barrhead Leader, she said that if someone doesn't step in, whether it is the municipality or another group, the cemetery is in danger of becoming in disarray. Something, she said she doesn't want to see, adding that both her parents are buried there.

She added before the current group of three people took it upon themselves to make sure the cemetery did not become overgrown with weeds, the task fell to her uncle.

When he died in 2009, McBeth and her group took over the cost of mowing, estimated at $350 annually. She has not actually met the other two people who contribute money, saying they coordinate everything through telephone calls and the mail.

"Back then the church was still standing," she said, adding shortly afterwards it was demolished.

However, given the fact that all three people who contribute to the site's maintenance are ageing (McBeth is the youngest at 62 years old), she is worried, what will happen to the cemetery once they pass and/or can no longer contribute financially.

"I didn't know where else to turn. I have been asking other cemeteries to see how they handle it," she said.

As Penny suggested, McBeth learned that the churches either volunteer their time or money to the cause.

Unfortunately, this is not possible in this case as the church, has been effectively defunct in Barrhead for several years. McBeth said although the church building was demolished in about 2009, they stopped having church services there in the mid-1980s.

The Barrhead Leader reached out to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada to find out the cemetery's status. They noted it would take some time to go through their records, noting they have minimal staffing due to the coronavirus. As of deadline, we received no further reply.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com