MOUNT FOREST – Some councillors hope to make a local cemetery's operating hours more convenient for residents.
On Monday afternoon, a letter from the owners of England Funeral Home in Mount Forest, Holly and Kirk Jordan, was submitted to Wellington North council asking council to amend hours at the Mount Forest Cemetery to give families more time graveside.
According to the duo, some families often can't make it to the cemetery in time if they're coming from out of town while other families are forced to have a morning funeral if they want casket interment to take place on the same day as they're required to be at the graveside by 1:30 p.m.
Saturday interments of all kinds are also "nearly impossible" with the existing hours- requiring families wanting their funeral and interment on the same day to start at 9 a.m. which "isn't realistic."
"We are being told by families on a regular basis that the cemetery hours are very restrictive, and we feel that the hours are not meeting the needs of the families of Wellington North," said the Jordans, in a letter sent to council.
Located at 411257 Southgate Road 41, the Mount Forest Cemetery requires families to be graveside between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. for Monday to Friday interments, with Saturday interments between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
The Jordans are suggesting changing the hours to 3:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
"Many, if not most cemeteries (both municipal and privately owned) offer longer hours than what Mount Forest currently does," said the Jordans.
CAO Brooke Lambert said changing the hours would require a "significant service level change" due to staffing and overtime implications.
Between May and October, clerk Karren Wallace said there were five niches and four cremated remains on Saturdays. There were no casket burials but Wallace said that's "probably because of the time constraints."
"There are several staffing implications to (changing hours) including unionized staff, time and hours we don't have dedicated cemetery staff, they're our roads staff so there are also many other duties they're performing throughout the week and overtime is a major consideration so we have to look at what the level of expectation of service is that the township would like to provide," said Lambert.
Supported by Coun. Penny Renken, Coun. Sherry Burke suggested staff return with a report on the implications of changing hours, saying staff would be asked to stay overtime for any other service.
"I'd like to stress that when somebody needs to use this service that we provide, these families are dealing with a difficult time in their life and I think customer service, if we're going to offer service, is important," said Burke.
Staff will return with a report on cemetery hours at a future meeting.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
