Council adopts changes to cemetery rules, restricts burials near Memorial Day

The Idaho Falls City Council on March 12 approved an ordinance amending cemetery regulations to standardize formatting, require removal of artificial winter decorations by March 1, and to prohibit burials during the Memorial Day holiday period (through Memorial Day).

Parks and Recreation staff and the city sexton said the change is intended to reduce safety risks and avoid conflicts between visiting families and funeral services during the busiest visitation period. "For the people who want privacy for their loved ones in the funeral services, they may not ... we don't want to have it scheduled where some senior citizens ... couldn't because we had a service," cemetery sexton Scott Davis told the council.

Staff reviewed ten years of records and reported about 30 burials between the week before Memorial Day and Memorial Day across the city's two cemeteries (approximately three per year). Council members pressed staff on the cost to families if funerals are delayed; staff said mortuaries may charge for additional days of care and that those costs are common but were not quantified at the meeting.

Council moved to approve the ordinance under suspension of the rules requiring three separate readings; the motion carried on a recorded roll call. Director Holmes was asked to contact regional mortuaries so planners and families can be notified of the new restriction.

The ordinance revises Title 8, Chapter 11 of city code to clarify decoration-removal dates and Memorial Day weekend restrictions; the effective date and publication by summary were read into the record at the meeting.