[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Aldermen
(now City Council) of the City of Chicopee as Ch. 37 of the 1976 Code.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 3-17-1998 by Ord. No. 98-15]
The public cemeteries owned by the City shall
be known as "Fairview Cemetery," "Maple Grove Cemetery" and "East
Street Cemetery" and shall be under the charge and control of the
Commissioners of Fairview Cemetery.
The Commissioners of Fairview Cemetery shall
have general charge and control over all public cemeteries owned by
the City and may make such regulations relative to the care and use
thereof as they may deem necessary.
Burial lots in cemeteries owned by the City may be laid out by the Commissioners and may be sold to purchasers at such prices and on such terms as to payment as said Commissioners may determine. Any person desiring to purchase a lot shall apply to the Superintendent of Cemeteries, who shall have authority to assign lots to purchasers. Immediately after the assignment of any lot to a purchaser, the Superintendent shall notify the City Treasurer, who shall cause a deed for such lot to be prepared and executed as provided in Chapter 9 of this Code, which deed shall be delivered to the purchaser by the Treasurer upon receiving payment in full therefor. The Commissioners may make such further and additional regulations relative to the payment for any lot sold as they may deem proper, and, unless otherwise provided or agreed upon, all deeds of lots shall be taken and paid for within three months from the time of the assignment of the respective lots, and if not so taken, any such lot may be assigned to another purchaser.
All deeds of lots in any public cemetery owned
by the City shall be made subject to the following conditions:
A.
That the lot hereby conveyed shall be used only as
a burial place for the dead, and that, if the same shall ever be used
for any other purpose, it shall thereupon be forfeited and revert
to the City and its successors and assigns.
B.
That the possession and use of said land shall be
subject to all such general regulations for the care, management and
control of the cemetery as may from time to time be adopted by the
Commissioners of Fairview Cemetery.
All sums of money which have been or may be
deposited with the City Treasurer by any person under the provisions
of the statutes of this commonwealth for the preservation, care, improvement
or embellishment of any public or private burial place situated in
the City or of burial lots located in the same and all sums which
have been or may be bequeathed by any person for said purpose shall
be received and held by the Treasurer as special trust funds, and
he shall be responsible for such trust funds in like manner as for
other money received by him as Treasurer.
[Amended 9-1-2009]
Such funds shall be deposited by him in some
suitable savings bank or institution for savings, and the income arising
from such deposit or investment may be collected by said Treasurer
and expended by him in accordance with the terms of the trust under
which the several principal sums were received. It shall be competent
for the City Council to direct, if it so desires, that the Treasurer
pay over the entire income or any part thereof to the authorities
having charge of the cemetery or burial place in which the lots are
located for the care of which cemetery burial place or lots the funds
are held. No greater income shall be paid or allowed on any such funds
than is received by the Treasurer herefrom, and in the case of noninvestment
of said funds, the rate of interest that may be allowed shall not
exceed the current rate of dividends as allowed in savings banks.
No money shall be received by the Treasurer,
either on deposit or by bequest, for the perpetual care of cemetery
lots, unless the terms of the donation or bequest are sufficiently
specific to enable him to identify the particular lot or lots intended
to be cared for by the income of said funds. All lots for the care
or preservation of which any money may be deposited or bequeathed
shall be designated by such suitable and appropriate marks as may
be prescribed by the Commissioners of Fairview Cemetery. Such mark
shall be provided by the person making the deposit or by the executor
of the will containing the bequest, and in case it is not so provided,
the Treasurer shall be authorized to procure the same and charge the
expense thereof against the income which may be received from such
fund.
The City Treasurer is authorized to receive
any conveyance to the City of any lot in any burial place in the City
for the perpetual care of which any sum has been deposited with him,
and any lot so conveyed shall not be again sold or conveyed to any
person, and no permission shall be granted for the burial of any bodies
therein after said deed shall have been so received, but said lot
shall be forever held and kept in repair by said Commissioners according
to the terms of the trust under which deposit of money has been made.
The City of Chicopee shall use the sums of money
transferred and turned over to it by the proprietors of the Maple
Grove Cemetery only for the preservation, care, improvement and embellishment
of the Maple Grove Cemetery, and the income from all trust funds transferred
and turned over to it by the proprietors of the Maple Grove Cemetery
shall be expended by the City of Chicopee in accordance with the terms
of the trust under which the principal sums were given.
