At a time when many more people are opting for cremation following death rather than being buried in cemeteries, there remain many thousands of people buried in cemeteries throughout Wright County.
However, there are more antiquated church and faith-based cemeteries that have been abandoned, which has been a growing problem that has remained unchecked as to how someone deals with them while respecting the families of the dead buried in them.
Discussion of abandoned cemeteries came before the Wright County Board at its Tuesday, July 10, meeting by Commissioner Christine Husom, who was informed of a resident who wants to be buried in an abandoned cemetery that contains numerous family members. In the process, she learned the county board is charged with the authority to deal with issues pertaining to abandoned cemeteries.
Assistant County Attorney Brian Asleson said there are state statutes in place for both public and private cemeteries. He added that the number is relatively significant.
"I think we’re well into the double figures in abandoned cemeteries (in the county)," Asleson said. "The statutes make it option for counties – say they ‘may’ do this. There is also a statute that says townships may step up if they want to. We’ve got calls before from people who are volunteers, live next store and having been mowing abandoned cemeteries for decades."
While nobody in the county has a current inventory of abandoned cemeteries, Asleson said the State Archeologist’s office has maintained a record of all cemeteries and that he could like obtain a full list pretty easily. The hope is that the county can create a policy that will determine the issues involved with abandoned cemeteries.
"If we can get clarification, it might be something that we don’t have to deal with for years, but it’s there for when it comes up," Husom said.
Commissioner Mike Potter agreed that it’s not a problem that will go away and that having a policy in writing may not have practical application now, but likely will for county boards down the line when the issues crop up.
"It would help to identify all the cemeteries – abandoned or whatever – and have a procedure in place on how to handle this for future boards," Potter said. "
The board set a committee of the whole meeting for 11 a.m. following the Tuesday, July 24, board meeting.
In other items, the board:
n Approved the sheriff’s department 2018 Emergency Operations Plan. The document is updated annually, but every four years a complete re-write is done. 2018 was one of those years. The EOP needs to be up to date for counties or cities to be eligible for federal disaster relief funds and emergency management grants.
n Authorized signatures on a memorandum of agreement with the Teamsters Local 320 non-licensed essential sheriff’s staff for the 2018 county contribution to the health insurance plans.
n Authorized board attendance at a building committee meeting July 13 to discuss with the FBI a cooperative agreement to build a shared shooting range facility with the sheriff’s department. The facility is on a streamlined schedule for approval or denial, but a long-term view on the project and its impact needs to be discussed. Fiber-optic cable is a big issue, as up to eight miles of cable may be needed for the project. In addition, the FBI budgeting process for 2019 will be finalized later in July, making an agreement to get done in 2019 more pressing.
n By a 4-1 vote, approved a donation of $10,000 to the Maple Lake Library. The library was not accepted as a branch into the Great River Regional Library because of branch libraries located in Annandale and Buffalo, which the county provides considerable funding for. The Maple Lake Library is all-volunteer and has an annual budget of $40,000. Commissioner Mike Potter voted against the measure saying that the GRRL serves the county well and he had a hard time justifying another $10,000 to a non-member library when several other groups are also looking for some funding.
n Referred discussion of the lease on the Wright County Fairgrounds to the ways and means committee.
n Authorized signatures on an environmental review for the Continuum of Care project, which provides rental assistance for those in need through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The St. Cloud Housing and Redevelopment Authority has a project in Wright County that includes properties in Annandale, Buffalo and Monticello.
n Adopted a resolution appointing H2Overviewers as the viewers for the redetermination of benefits for County Ditch 20 in Maple Lake and Corinna Township, which has several tile breaks along the ditch system.
n Authorized Information Technology Director Adam Tagarro to attend the InforTech LIVE annual conference Nov. 6-8 in Las Vegas.
n Approved the June 26 committee of the whole minutes, which dealt with a PowerPoint presentation from the sheriff’s department and a document entitled "Wright County Sheriff’s Office Current Reality." Both the still shots of the slide show and the current reality document are available on the county’s website under the board agenda as a 65-page attachment to the committee minutes.
n Received an update in the progress of the earthwork being done at the new Justice Center. A time-lapse camera is recording the progress for those interested in watching.
n Approved that, beginning in August, Technology Committee meetings will be conducted on the fourth Wednesday of each month, with the second Wednesday of the month being the alternate in months with conflicts due to holidays or scheduling.