LAHARPE — LaHarpe City Councilman David Lee asked the city Wednesday to consider taking over upkeep of the LaHarpe Cemetery.
The cemetery lies outside city limits, and is under the jurisdiction of the South Elm Township, Lee explained.
A township cemetery board hired Terry Crowell this year as sexton, responsible for keeping grass mowed and marking burial plots.
However, equipment failures prevented Crowell from mowing for several days prior to Memorial Day. Making matters worse, the contract was set up in such a way that the cemetery board has no recourse but to pay Crowell, regardless of whether the cemetery is mowed.
LaHarpe PRIDE Committee members stepped forward the week prior to Memorial Day with mowers and weedeaters to clean up the cemetery in time for the holiday.
Lee tipped his cap toward the PRIDE Committee for its volunteerism, but added a better solution was needed.
“This way isn’t working,” he said.
LaHarpe has two options if it wants to be responsible for the cemetery, City Attorney Chuck Apt replied. It can enter an interlocal agreement with the South Elm cemetery board, or annex the cemetery.
Annexing the cemetery is problematic, Mayor Mae Crowell responded, because the cemetery would lose about $9,000 annually in county funds if it were inside LaHarpe’s city limits.
Apt said he would look further into the matter to see if an interlocal agreement were possible.
A CONDEMNED home at 1112 S. Washington St. has been targeted for demolition this fall through a community engagement initiative.
A committee is working to find a better housing situation for the occupants, Lee said, before the house is torn down in September. “Otherwise, they’ll be living in a car,” he said.
