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MAINTENANCE
<br />
<br />The most visible aspect of cemetery management, main-
<br />tenance, is a crucial factor in sales. No one wishes lo buy
<br />a plot at an unkempt cemetery; but at a well-kept ceme-
<br />terb; customers will be more willing to pa)' higher fees.
<br />Cemetery maintenance, however, involves more than
<br />mowing lawn'- and pruning bushes. Two problems in par-
<br />ticular demonstrate this.
<br /> First, calculating total maintenance costs is difficult.
<br />Cemetery managers are often poor at doing this, accord-
<br />ing to Donald Drewes. The), fail to account for all
<br />features maintained. He said recently that the average
<br />maintenance cost for a cemetery is 10 cents per square
<br />.foot per year. A 1978 article on the profitabili,y of ceme-
<br />terit,~, in Forbes, gave a wide range of unit maintenance
<br />costs: from 7 cents per square foot in flush marker ceme-
<br />teries to 35 cents per square foot in traditional cemeteries 2'
<br />Further, maintenance issues and costs vary according to
<br />climate and season. However, the irsue of deriving unit
<br />maintenance costs is not settled. Rm, ert O. Kirby, presi-
<br />dent of the American Municipal Cemetery Conference
<br />and head of the Norfolk, Virginia, Bureau of Cemeteries,
<br />said he has observed that 2,:sh marker sections require
<br />no less time for maintenane:.
<br /> Second, ~4th years of inflation and increasing labor
<br />costs, even prospering private cemeteries like Ft. Lincoln
<br />or historic Mit. Auburn CornereD' in Cambridge, Massa-
<br />chusetts cannot be maintained the way the)' used to be.
<br />Roger S. Kdndred, assistant superintendent of Mt.
<br />Auburn, said that he is trying to educate the public--
<br />often on a one-to-one basis--about the need for changes
<br />in maintenance standards.
<br /> Toda); publ~c (and private)cemeteries are using cos~-
<br />saving methods and alternative means of se. vice delivery
<br />to keep maintenance standards as high as possible despite
<br />the ever greater cost involved.
<br />
<br />Cos~.Saving Techniques
<br />
<br />ing :his v_uic!e fall in:c three categories:
<br />
<br />· Mech~.u/:qng" .....
<br /> ~ n., ex ~, possible to ~u'jt labor costs
<br />· Using chemicals on g:'~s and s?~abs to reduce tf. mzr2.ng
<br />· Regrading to facilhate movement of equipment.
<br />
<br />The biggest maintenance task is mowing grass. In rv2ny
<br />summers this job might ~o on nonstop. In &der areas, :he
<br />problem is compounaed by the necessity to water
<br />turf. ~lton R. Van~er L~nde, ~re~or of the innovative
<br />munidp~ cemetery :n Redl~ds, C~ifomi~, says come-.
<br />reties Jn his state ~,ow nine months z ?'e~ ~d wa:er
<br />lawns ten months a x,-~ C.met.n.~ faced ~Sth this situa-
<br />tion are saddled with mowing costs plus water ~lis
<br />i~igadon costs. Vmnfie: Linde shd he cuts comers by
<br />using good equipment, mech~i~ng as much ~ possible,
<br />not stming ~y projects that will incre~e m~nten~ce,
<br />
<br /> and using chemicals in all hand-trimnfing areas (particu-
<br /> larly around headstones).
<br /> Frank Cofran, a recently retired superintendent of
<br />· municipal cemeteries in Portland, Maine, takes a similar
<br />approach. Faced with having to maintain cemeteries with
<br />fewer aJ~d fewer employees, Cofran turned to chemicals.
<br />He used grass retardants (though noting the problem of
<br />getting these down at the right time) and soil slerilants
<br />once a year to kill grass around monuments.
<br /> Inflation led to greater scrutiny of operations at the
<br /> oldest garden cemetery in America, Mt. Auburn Ceme-
<br /> tery. What came out of this is no less dramatic than the
<br /> changing of horticultural standards from formal gardens
<br /> to an ihformal landscape. And the lawns no longer
<br /> receive golf course treatment, in an article on spring
<br /> maintenance, Roger Kindred wrote, "A more functional,
<br /> healthier turf has been created by setting lawn mowers at
<br /> a higher cutting level, mowing on an eight-day cycle in
<br /> the spring, and fertilizing once a year in the fall.""
<br /> In slack seasons, rather than la)5ng off workers, Kindred
<br /> has started special projects such as regrading curb sidings.
<br /> "The mower operators can now run their machines up a
<br /> grade, over the curb, and Onto the lot without losing any
<br /> time or fingers.'"'
<br /> Municipalities that lay off cornereD' workers seasonally
<br /> might well consider holding onto them for such speci~
<br /> projects, which can pay off in the long run.
<br />
<br />Alternative Service Delivery
<br />
<br /> Some local governments are looking to sources other
<br /> than employees within their cemet~-;.' operations to
<br /> reduce the cost of maintenance. These sources range
<br /> from other municipal departments, to nongovernmental
<br /> organizations, to special~zed contractors.
<br /> Coldwater, Michigan City Manager Gary Kuckel
<br /> repons that the city shares employees in the streets and
<br /> cemeteries departments. The city lest four empl;..yees~
<br /> three from the streets, one from :he cemetery
<br /> merit--when reti~ng workers were no~, ,.pla .... To make
<br /> up for the lack of manpower, the two depz:'tments coy-
<br /> b':ne forces at certain times of the >:ear. Before Memorial
<br /> Da); workers from the s'~reets department devote time
<br /> the cemeteD' operation; in the ~qmter, depending on the
<br /> am, o',~m of snow f~, cemeteD' employees join up with
<br /> the struts department. The city has asked the council to
<br /> combine employee positions, and it uses o~dv empl°vees
<br /> who voi~nteer. The e'.'!mination of fo,ur fuii-:ime posi-
<br /> tions saves the city $75,(Y&3 a year.
<br /> Most maintenance az the Scottsbluff, Nebraska ceme-
<br /> teD' is done manually because there are above-ground
<br /> monuments. Linda Witkc, assis:ant to the c.::y manager,
<br /> says ,h~
<br /> c,,) turns to volunteers at different times: box,
<br />· scouts during the Memorial Ds3' period, ~e:~,' ..... an.. organi-
<br /> zations d'm~-ng the \ e.; .... ~- zy per'.
<br /> .&rdmore, Oklahoma contracts om cemetery mainte-
<br /> nance to a local organization of handicapped persons.
<br /> Offering remuneration equal to what it had paid a x.unic-
<br />
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