SHERIFF'S SALE NOTICE: FLORAL HILLS MEMORY GARDENS - CIRCLEVILLE, PICKAWAY COUNTY, OHIO - THE CEMETERY WILL BE UP FOR AUCTION ON MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2020 - AUCTION LOCATION - 207 SOUTH COURT STREET - CIRCLEVILLE, PICKAWAY COUNTY COURTHOUSE, MAIN LOBBY 1:30P.M.

What is happening with the Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio  -- should not happen to any Ohio cemetery regardless of its status; most certainly it should not be happening to one that is active.  The township should have taken it over and assumed responsibility for it when it became abandoned by its owners.  Ohio law mandates this is what should be done.  

Sharing an April 3, 2016 story in the Columbus Dispatch about the Floral Hills Memory Gardens which spotlighted the Pickaway County location and included information about the Ross County location and its plight as well.

Excerpt from: 

MATTHEW J. DeTEMPLE, Executive Director

House State & Local Government Committee

May 16, 2017

Proponent Testimony

HB 168 Modify Cemetery Law

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"Townships and Cemeteries"

"Townships maintain over 2400 cemeteries in Ohio. Township cemetery law may generally be found in Ch. 517 of the Ohio Revised Code. A township is required to have a cemetery laid out in lots, number the lots, and the township fiscal officer must keep careful records of said actions (ORC §517.06). The board of trustees is required to make and enforce all needful rules and regulations for the division of the cemetery into lots and the allotment of lots to families or individuals, and for the care, supervision and improvements of said lots. ORC §517.06 further requires that the grass and weeds in the cemetery be cut at least twice a year.

The ORC mandates that a township provide for the protection and preservation of cemeteries under its jurisdiction (ORC §517.11). While the Code states that townships may re-erect any fallen tombstones, a 1975 Attorney General Opinion (OAG 75-083) states that “boards of township trustees have a duty to repair and re-erect monuments and tombstones in public cemeteries within their jurisdiction when the repair is necessary to keep the cemetery in good repair.” The opinion further states that “a board of township trustees has a duty to repair and re-erect monuments in a cemetery that has been vandalized.”

The township may choose to enclose township cemeteries with a fence or hedge but should they do so, the township is required to keep the fence or hedge in good repair (ORC §517.11). When a board of county commissioners has enclosed with a fence all abandoned public cemeteries in the county from which remains have not been removed, the board of township trustees shall keep the fence in good repair and remove the undergrowth and weeds at least once a year (ORC §517.32).

Townships, per ORC §517.11, are charged with the protection and preservation of cemeteries under their jurisdiction. If a public cemetery or a cemetery association wishes to have a board of township trustees take over responsibility of said cemetery, the board of trustees shall accept the transfer (ORC §517.27). Furthermore, a municipal corporation may abandon a cemetery outside the boundaries of the municipality and the trustees shall assume responsibility for the cemetery (ORC §517.28)."

 

The Pickaway County Sheriff's Department has announced on its website the upcoming Sheriff's Auction of the Floral Hills Memory Gardens, which is an active cemetery with at least 672 interments:.

LOCATION OF AUCTION  IS THE PICKAWAY COUNTY COURT HOUSE AT 207 COURT STREET, CIRCLEVILLE, OHIO - MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2020 AT 1:30P.M. 

Auction Date & Time:	March 3, 2020 @ 1:30 p.m.
If Not Sold Second Sale Date:	March 24, 2020 @ 1:30 p.m.
Case Number:	2019DLT003
Address:	Floral Hills Cemetery
City:	Circleville
State:	Ohio
ZIP:	43113
Parcel Number:	M30-0-004-00-037-00, M30-0-004-00-033-02, M30-0-004-00-048-00, M30-0-004-00-038-00, M30-0-004-00-039-00
Appraised Amount:
Start Bid:	$100,853.78
Minimum Deposit:	$15,000.00
Attorney Name:	Jeffrey A. Catri
	Phone:740-474-6066

COMMUNITY CALENDAR - February 22 2020 - Morrow County Genealogical Society - 2:00PM Meeting - Cemetery Restoration presented by Tim Foor of Hallowed Ground Cemetery Preservation, LLC

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Feb. 22, 2020

"The Morrow County Genealogical Society will hold its monthly meeting at the Mount Gilead Library Annex, 35 E. High St. The program, entitled Cemetery Restoration, will be presented by Tim Foor, from Hallowed Ground Cemetery Preservation LLC. Foor will share his adventures in cleaning and restoring gravestones and cemeteries throughout north central Ohio. Meeting is at 2 p.m. and open to the public."

Sharing this news story: "Elyria Cemeteries May see changes for Headstones"

This feature story centers around the increasing costs of conducting indigent burials in Elyria (Lorain County) Ohio.

 Excerpt:

"The proposal presented at the committee meeting is asking for those who have indigent burials and intend to purchase a headstone to pay a $350 fee for a plot and the footer fee for the headstone."

 

Elyria has three cemeteries.  Ridgelawn Cemetery, being its most historic cemetery; Brookdal Cemetery which is also known as the Elyria City Cemetery, and North Murray Ridge Cemetery which is a smaller pioneer cemetery with some more recent burials.  

Ohio Revised Code 5121.11 :

"Burial or cremation of indigent patient or resident"

"The state shall bear the expense of the burial or cremation of an indigent resident who dies in a state institution operated by the department of developmental disabilities under section 5123.03 of the Revised Code or in a state correctional institution if the body is not claimed for interment or cremation at the expense of friends or relatives or is not delivered for anatomical purposes or for the study of embalming in accordance with section 1713.34 of the Revised Code. 

The managing officer of the institution shall provide at the grave of the person or, if the person's cremated remains are buried, at the grave of the person's cremated remains, a metal, stone, or concrete marker on which shall be inscribed the name and age of the person and the date of death.

Amended by 128th General Assembly 

ch.29, SB 79, §1, eff. 10/6/2009.

Effective Date: 08-05-1998; 01-01-2006"

 

"Indigent Funeral Guidelines for Ohio"

Excerpt:
"The state laws of Ohio are explicitly clear about the guidelines of indigent funerals. 

The rising cost of funerals means families faced with unexpected deaths may not be able to afford a funeral for their loved ones. 

Prior to 2001, the state of Ohio paid $750 for the funeral of an indigent person claimed by the family. The law was repealed and the cost, as of 2011, falls upon the cities and municipalities of the state."

 

Section 9.15 

"Burial or cremation of body at expense of township or municipal corporation."

"As used in this section, "legal residence" means a permanent place of abode used or occupied as living quarters at the time of a person's death, including a nursing home, hospital, or other care facility.

When the body of a dead person is found in a township or municipal corporation, and such person was not an inmate of a correctional, benevolent, or charitable institution of this state, and the body is not claimed by any person for private interment or cremation at the person's own expense, or delivered for the purpose of medical or surgical study or dissection in accordance with section 1713.34 of the Revised Code, it shall be disposed of as follows:

(A) If the person was a legal resident of the county, the proper officers of the township or municipal corporation in which the person's body was found shall cause it to be buried or cremated at the expense of the township or municipal corporation in which the person had a legal residence at the time of death. 

(B) If the person had a legal residence in any other county of the state at the time of death, the superintendent of the county home of the county in which such body was found shall cause it to be buried or cremated at the expense of the township or municipal corporation in which the person had a legal residence at the time of death. 

(C) If the person was an inmate of a correctional institution of the county or a patient or resident of a benevolent institution of the county, the person had no legal residence in the state, or the person's legal residence is unknown, the superintendent shall cause the person to be buried or cremated at the expense of the county. 

Such officials shall provide, at the grave of the person or, if the person's cremated remains are buried, at the grave of the person's cremated remains, a metal, stone, or concrete marker on which the person's name and age, if known, and date of death shall be inscribed.

A political subdivision is not relieved of its duty to bury or cremate a person at its expense under this section when the body is claimed by an indigent person. As used in this section, "indigent person" means a person whose income does not exceed one hundred fifty per cent of the federal poverty line, as revised annually by the United States department of health and human services in accordance with section 673(2) of the "Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981," 95 Stat. 511, 42 U.S.C. 9902, as amended, for a family size equal to the size of the person's family."

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Amended by 131st General Assembly File No. TBD, HB 240, §1, eff. 8/31/2016.

Amended by 130th General Assembly File No. 25, HB 59, §101.01, eff. 9/29/2013.

Effective Date: 2007 HB119 09-29-2007 

  

Further updates to come:

"Through the 19th of this month, we had nine burials and four were indigent. 

The money we put out just this month is very costly to us.”

Council could start to discuss the issue Feb. 3.