Board Minutes for May 11, 2021
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 by Peggy Seppmann, President.
Present were: Dean Otto, Archie Kendall, Arlene Neilsen, Lori Ruch, Barbara Jackowell, Phyllis Granaas, Pete Hagert, Paige Attrian, Peggy Seppmann, Dennis Owens, and Dale VanThuyne.
Also present were Roger Anderson, a neighbor and Wendy June from Mankato Pet Cremation.
The Minutes of the last meeting had been sent out to members ahead of time and were approved.
Wendy June started the meeting by talking to the board about the status of pet burials and cremations in the area. The board has been considering open a part of the cemetery for pet burials and wanted additional information about the possibility. Ms. June brought up several points for consideration.
First was having a separate area for pet burials or allowing pet burials within family plots. The Pet Cremations business varies from 100-200 cremations per year. The closest cemetery for per burials is in Owatonna. She stated that the Owatonna Cemetery received burials from all over the state including several from the Twin Cities.
A second consideration was what size pets to include. For instance, horses are typically trailered to the cemetery and put down at the burial spot. However, to include spots for animals that large was much more complex and took up a lot of room in the cemetery. There are currently no cemeteries for horses in Minnesota.
A third topic was whether to allow both burials and cremated remains. If we do burials the animals must be placed in a vault. No wood caskets should be allowed as they deteriorate and sink. Although the Owatonna cemetery has both remains and cremations, the cremations outnumber the uncremated burials. Owatonna also has only flat markers for the graves which make it easier to maintain (mowing, etc.). Ms. June said it might be possible to get a rebate from makers of the markers if they are all the same.
Finally she said we should have a sign on site that indicates we accept pet burials. She added that she would be happy to refer people to us for burials when we get ready to do this. She would need our costs and who should be the contact for the cemetery.
After Wendy June left, we returned to our regular meeting schedule. Dean Otto gave the Treasurer’s report. The Profit/Loss Statement for January through December of 2020 showed a $3,325.65 loss due to our expenses being more than our income. We received $7,200.00 from dividends on our investments. However, last year we did not spray or advertise. Dean also stopped paying himself. Our biggest expense was for mowing. We paid $1,000.00 every other week for the keeping the cemetery mowed and for road maintenance. This year we have had 3 burials and paid for our insurance. We received $10,800.00 from the Union Pacific for their payment to establish a new easement on the cemetery land and reimburse the cemetery for the new fence. We made $1,274.34 dollars on the deal and transferred that to our equity accounts. Dean stated that the investment fund was at about $231,544.75, as of December 2020. He also indicated that the investment funds should improve this year. As of April 30th, 2021, they were up about $20,000.00.
One of the changes is that the COVID pandemic has brought more cremations and that several burials were delayed in 2020. Dean brought up the fact that Mankato Mortuary passes out data on the cemeteries and has meetings for people interested in burial information. He added that the mortuary could include us with these promotions if we prepared similar data on Minneopa to hand out and use in presentations.
The treasurer’s Report was approved and seconded.
The superintendent report was made by Pete Hagert. In 2020 we had 5 burials, all cremations. So far in 2021, we have had 2 regular burials and 1 cremation burial. We have 3 more pending cremation burials. We are also scheduled for a second rite of internment for a grandmother from New York.
Chad Ruch got a load of asphalt which will be used on low areas of the road. He also got 2 loads of black dirt donated to the cemetery for use as needed. The fence is up and cost less than expected (as noted in the financial report above). Gina will plant the urns again for Memorial Day. Last year due to COVID restrictions, the Memorial Squad did not do services as they typically do. This year a service will be held at Minneopa at 10:45. We again voted a $100.00 donation for the Memorial Squad for their service.
We discussed the current cost of burials. A full burial is $700.00 and a cremation is $350.00. Other cemeteries vary from $600-800 for a full burial so our cost is still reasonable. The average cost of a cremation is about $3,000.00. It was decided to raise our charge for a cremation burial to $400.00.
We discussed sending out a fund raising letter. Dean noted that many cemeteries only put about 20% of their income into a perpetual fund for cemetery maintenance and are going or have gone broke. Minneopa puts 50% into our fund but with expenses increasing we could use more money for the future. Dean volunteered to pass out a fund raising letter at the Memorial Day service.
Finally we had a free for all discussion of ideas on the Pet Cemetery limitations. 2 foot by 2 foot plots were suggested but after considering the possible sizes of dogs and other pets, 4 foot by 4 foot plots were felt to be more practical. We decided to get proposed costs for preparing the land and platting the area. Peggy said she would get some quotes for the fall meeting. Dean, Lori, Pete and Peggy were to start finding out data on other considerations for starting a pet section for the cemetery.
The Fall meeting was tentatively set for 9-14-21.