canosia township
cemetery rules
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Draft 1 Initial Proposal Presented: Cemetery Meeting 9/8/97

Draft 2 Rewrite of Draft 1 Presented: Cemetery Meeting 11/10/97

Draft 3 Rewrite of Draft 2 Presented: Regular Town Meeting12/3/97

1. Location: (T51-R15W, St. Louis County, MN). The cemetery is located at the junction of Midway Road (County #13) and Seville Road (County #694), a short distance south of the Intersection of Midway Road and U.S. Highway 53 (Miller Trunk Hwy.)

2. Canosia Township, incorporated in 1888, lacked a burial ground until land was donated in the early 1890's. Some of Canosia 's immigrant pioneers, along with residents of Grand Lake and Fredenberg, (formerly incorporated with Canosia) are buried here. The first cemetery ledgers were destroyed in the 1918 Forest Fire but subsequent town clerks reconstructed the listing. Some WPA funding in the 1930's and 1940's allowed the town to add a few improvements.

3. In more recent years, the township has rebuilt the access road, replaced lot markers and provided extensive grooming and landscaping. The Canosia Township Historical Society arranged for a new veteran's monument and has also researched some of the pioneers buried in this cemetery.

4. The original layout of the cemetery is an arrangement of blocks, lots, and gravesites. Each lot was divided in to five gravesites. Presently the Cemetery Board has decreed there will be only four gravesites per lot.

Section 2 Cemetery Board     top of page

1. The Canosia Cemetery Board will consist of the three elected Canosia Township Supervisors and a Cemetery Overseer. The Town Supervisors will appoint the Cemetery Overseer. The individual appointed overseer would function in as a full member of the Canosia Cemetery Board.

2. The Cemetery Overseer will work independently if other board members are not available and there is an internment required. The Cemetery Overseer is authorized to open and close graves, as are other members of the Cemetery Board.

3. The Town Clerk shall act the recording secretary for the Cemetery Board. The Town Clerk is also the point of contact for information on the cemetery.

4. Cemetery meetings will be posted and open to the public as required by Minnesota Statutes.

1. The cemetery reserves the right to compel all persons entering onto the cemetery grounds, to obey all rules and regulations adopted by the Cemetery Board.

2. Rules and regulations may be amended and/or revised by the Cemetery Board at any properly posted meeting

3. The Cemetery Board shall take reasonable precautions to protect owners and the property rights of owners from loss or damage.

4. The Cemetery Board reserves and shall have the right to correct any error that may have been or may be made in making interments or disinterments.

5. Special cases may arise in which the literal enforcement of a rule may impose unnecessary hardship. The Cemetery Board, therefore, reserves the right, without notice to make an exception, suspension or modification in any rules when, in its judgment, shall be reasonable. Any such case must come before the Cemetery Board.

6. Gravesites will be measured and marked, before burial, by a member of the Cemetery Board. The family/estate will be responsible for expenses required to correct any and all errors.

7. Gravesites will be excavated only by individuals who are authorized by the Cemetery Board.

1. Cemetery lots can be obtained through the process outlined below and in Section 5. To purchase a burial site in the Canosia Cemetery, contact a Cemetery Board member. Interment rights shall be used for no other purpose than the burial of the human dead or their remains. Persons desiring to purchase lots or plots are invited to contact the Town Clerk or a Cemetery Board Member who will visit the cemetery and help in making a selection. After the selection is made, and the purchase price has been paid, a receipt will be issued and copies will be kept on file to assist record keeping. All said agreements must provide for payment into the cemetery fund for general care and maintenance of the cemetery. No interment will take place until such transaction has been settled to the board's satisfaction.

2. All agreements for the purchase of cemetery interment rights must be on approved forms. The Town Clerk and a Cemetery Board Member must sign the form. All terms and conditions for the purchase must be recited in the purchase contract. Verbal agreements or representations will not be recognized. The Cemetery Board may exchange interment rights when desired by owners. When such exchange is made, the original approved form must be surrendered by proper assignment or by reconveyance if considered necessary before any change is authorized.

3. The sale or transfer of any interment rights by any owner or purchaser is not permitted. Lots or plots must be sold back to the town for the purchase price; then may be resold at current prices. The Cemetery Board has the right to refuse to consent to a transfer or assignment as long as there is any indebtedness due from the owners. A refund of purchase price is by the sole discretion of the Cemetery Board.

4. Ownership of interment rights may be disposed of by a will as outlined in Minnesota statutes or sold back to the Cemetery Board for the original purchased price.

5. The subdivision of interment rights is not allowed without the consent of the Cemetery Board.

6. No one shall be buried in any lot or plot, not having an interest therein, except by written consent of all parties concerned with the lot and by approval of the Cemetery Board.

7. Single graves may be purchased in sections designated for that purpose and spaces will be filled in regular order. Should any grave be vacated, and remains removed from the cemetery and there are no other survivors, the space will revert to the town for resale.

8. The burial of two bodies in one grave site will be permitted if it is two infants in vaults no longer than 24 inches, or if it is two separate remains from a cremation, or one casket and one urn from a cremation may be permitted in one site. The stones for these situations will be the flat marker types.

9. When "winter burial" take places, the family will be held responsible for any additional costs for snow blowing or damage to other sites and stones, and possible disinterment costs in the following spring.

 Section 5 Cost of Cemetery Plots Effective January 1, 1998     top of page

1. Definitions:

Section 6 Disinterment     top of page

1. Disinterments must have the proper authorization provided to the cemetery officials and copies provided for the files, this would be taken care of before any disinterment will take place. The cemetery board will supervise all disinterments. Arrangements for disinterment of remains, vault removal, and restoring the rounds will be the responsibility of the lot owner’s heirs, but must be authorized and attended by board members.
   

2. Any person desiring to remove remains from the grave space of another must show proper authorization from authorities. The person requesting the removal must also sign a removal request. The request will indicate name(s), dates, lot number and location before removal are to take place and said documents will remain on file with the cemetery.
   

3. After disinterment, the lot ownership will remain deeded to the original owner and follow Minnesota laws of descent, unless the owner wishes to sell lot back to the town for the purchase price. The disinterment of a body of a deceased lot owner or any family member by heirs for profit or other reasons not considered proper by the board and against laws of the state of Minnesota and will not be permitted.

All persons are reminded that the grounds are sacred. The cemetery is devoted to the burial of the dead and that provisions and penalties of the law, as provided by Minnesota Statute will be strictly enforced. All well-disposed persons will confer a favor by informing the board of any breach of proper decorum that may come under their notice. The object of these rules is to have grounds that will be easily cared for and will not pose a problem or danger to those that will be working or helping at any time. With everyone's help and cooperation, this will remain a beautiful area.

1. No person shall be permitted to use profane or foul language, or in any way disturb the quiet and good order of the cemetery.
   

2. All persons are prohibited to hunt, feed or disturb fowl or other animals at the cemetery.
   

3. No person or persons other than those appointed by the cemetery shall be permitted to bring or carry firearms on the grounds. Military guards of honor and law enforcement agencies are authorized when in the charge of an officer and during a military service are excluded from this prohibition.
   

4. The Cemetery Board and their agents have the authority to enter upon any lot or plot to remove anything objectionable that may have been placed there contrary to the rules and regulations of said board.
   

5. The Cemetery Board and its agent may also trim or remove any dead, damaged, unsightly or overgrown trees, shrubs, vine, flowers, plants.
   

6. No person shall be permitted to enter or leave the cemetery, except by public access.
   

7. Speeds of over 10 MPH will not be permitted. No person shall ride or drive upon the lawns or grounds other than on the designated road. Persons within the cemetery are asked to use the roads, and walkways provided. All-terrain and other recreational vehicles are not allowed on the cemetery grounds.
   

8. Persons visiting the cemetery are asked to use the roads and walkways provided.
   

9. No enclosures of any kind, e.g., fence coping, hedge, or ditch shall be permitted around any grave or lot or plot.
   

10. Grave mounds will not be allowed. No lot area will be raised above the established grade of the land. No rocks, bark, chips, statues, bird baths, benches, etc. shall be permitted on grave sites and will be removed and disposed of without prior notice.
    

11. If any memorial or any structure whatsoever or any inscription placed on it, shall be determined offensive, the town board shall have the right, and their duty to enter upon the site and remove it. Improper or offensive language will be removed at owners’ expense.
    

12. A family member and Cemetery Board Members before burial must locate gravesites. Family or funeral directors are to contact a board member to mark the sites for digging of the grave and stone or monument placement.
    

13. All burials will be made in a permanent steel, concrete, or fiberglass outside container vault as required by the State of Minnesota. No burial will take place until all laws regarding burials by the State of Minnesota are complied with.
    

14. Dogs and pets are permitted on the grounds only if properly secured and or leashed.
    

15. No drugs or alcohol consumption is permitted.
    

16. No boxes, shells, toys, sprinkling cans, receptacles or similar articles are permitted on any gravesite, plot or tree.
    

17. The cemetery is not responsible for theft or damage to anything placed on sites or grounds.
    

18. No wooden or cast iron benches are allowed, nor are wooden or wire trellises. No digging of holes to plant flowers or to hold flowerpots and other containers is permitted. No glass, clay or other easily breakable containers are allowed and will be removed immediately. No arrangements secured with wire or wire objects of any kind will be permitted.
    

19. Flowers And Plants

1. Live or artificial flowers and plants are allowed on gravesites from May 20^th to September 15^th, as long as they are in regulation cemetery baskets or vases.

2. Planters will be allowed as long as they are not glass, ceramic or clay. They must be easily moved for the mower, not light enough to blow away in a windstorm.

3. No planter, box, basket or vase can weigh over 20 pounds. If found in violation, they will be removed without notice.

4. Funeral bouquets of flowers will be allowed for funerals and will be removed as they become unsightly or the next time the grounds are mowed.

5. All baskets, planters, vases, etc. will be removed by Sept. 15^th, if not removed then; they will be removed at fall clean up, and disposed of after two weeks.

6. Flowers, plants, trees, shrubs, etc. will only be planted by the board, any others found will be removed.

7. Planting on gravesite is strictly prohibited.

8. Dirt and grass seed may be planted as needed. Sod has not been found to work well because of soil conditions and lack of water.

9. The general care of the cemetery grounds will be up to the Cemetery Board.

A. Monuments and markers placed in the Canosia Cemetery will be orientated to have the inscriptions facing to the East.

B. Canosia Cemetery requires that all monument and marker placement must be coordinated with a member of the Cemetery Board.

C. A monument or marker placement fee must be paid prior to a monument or marker installed at the Canosia Cemetery.

D. Placement Fee:$ 25.00

E. Monument sizes:

1. A single lot, will be 26" x 12" and no higher than 26".
2. A double lot, will be 36" x 12" and no higher than 26".
3. A four gravesite, the monument will be no larger than 48"x12" and no higher than 36".
4. There will be one monument per four grave plots, in order to represent the family.
5. All monuments must be set in place under the supervision or guidance of the board.

F. Flat stone marker sizes:

1. The largest size on a single grave is 12"x24"x4"

2. A double grave marker, no larger than 14"x42"x4"

3. All flat stones are to be flush with the ground in order to help with lawn mowing. If you have any questions about the area you have lots, please call a Town Supervisor.

4. All monuments must be set in place under the supervision or guidance of the board.

G. Monument and flat stone marker sizes noted above are for the largest size, this does not mean you have to purchase this size; there are many beautiful smaller ones available also.