Washington will enforce cemetery rules as written

WASHINGTON — The city of Washington will continue to require removal of gravesite decorations in its cemeteries ahead of annual cleanup dates, despite pushback from some community members.

The city sent letters to six families earlier this year about their loved ones’ graves, decorated with miniature plastic lawn flamingos, small rocks or planted flowers, all contained in “landscape gardens” surrounding the headstones, usually bordered by lines of bricks.

The decorations all violate municipal rules for Washington’s Elm Grove and Woodlawn cemeteries, last updated in 2021, which call for removal of non-permanent decorations placed on the ground by June 15 every year. But many said they’d reached an agreement with the cemeteries’ former supervisor to leave their displays intact.

Several of those families turned out to a city council meeting last week, where they encouraged officials to allow exceptions or waive the rules for specific plots.

“I understand there’s rules, and I will definitely follow the rules, but when the guy in charge says it doesn’t say in the rules that I can’t, I will sure jump on that,” said Washington resident Stacy Burke, whose late husband is buried in town, along with her mother. “This is the only way to express love to our deceased ones, and to take this away feels like taking everything back away from me again.”

The debate came to council members last week after cemetery officials said they weren’t sure how to proceed.

“I never thought I’d have to tell a mother, or anyone, that they shouldn’t be putting something on their grave,” Washington Cemetery Sexton Zach Wibstad said.

Current municipal staff said the decorations presented a hazard to employees and a potential for damage to snowblowers and mowers. The concern is especially prevalent in winter weather, when snow can pile up as high as some of the grave markers themselves, obscuring the items underneath.

Also at play are property issues, with some of the ornaments spilling over onto adjacent graves owned by other families.

City Administrator Joe Gaa said there was no way to fairly enforce a grandfather clause or other exceptions to cemetery rules, with some of the six graves sitting close to corners and paths where they have an outsized impact on equipment and foot traffic through the area.

“This is a really difficult issue,” he said. “There was no way for us to be fair, as staff, which is really what we think this comes down to. This rule has been in effect, and the staff members weren’t following it.”

Officials said they were sympathetic to family members that wanted to keep the decorations, but argued they had an obligation to uphold the rules.

“The person previous did not follow the rules, and that is creating this problem,” Mayor Millie Youngquist said. “My heart breaks for you, but I think we need to try to be fair to everybody. Everybody who’s buried there, everybody who comes to visit.”

A motion to leave the cemetery rules in place without exception passed 5-1.

Council Member Fran Stigers was the lone vote against. He said he agreed the grave decorations needed consistent guidelines, but said he shared some of the affected families’ discontent with restrictions.

“I put my dad in the cemetery … we wanted to do some things because of his military background, and weren’t allowed to,” Stigers said. “The only thing that shows my dad was in the military is the military marker that they allowed (us) to put in there. My dad served two years in Vietnam, 22 years in the United States Army, seven years as the most decorated drill sergeant in the First Infantry Division, and we don’t get to display that, because of rules.”

The decision has no effect on more temporary decorations placed on the ground near graves. City rules state that those get removed starting June 15 every year, while fall and winter decorations are allowed only after the last mowing of the season, typically in November.

The guidelines also allow planted flowers on graves, as long as they’re sufficiently close to gravestones, or placed on shepherd’s hooks. Plants are removed if they die, or become “unsightly,” according to the rules.

Wibstad said more valuable or sentimental items left on graves were typically kept at the department’s office, in hopes of family members picking them up.

“Not everyone’s going to get their stuff back, it’s dump truck loads of decorations and old flowers, I’ll fill multiple dumpsters,” he said. “I try to, with good taste, select the things that would have value for people. Anything with their names on it, or anything homemade or anything of value, I try to hold onto it.”

A copy of Washington’s cemetery regulations can be found on the city’s website.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com