A proposed resolution that would remove city cemeteries from the governance of the parks department has been filed by Fall River City Councilor Linda Perreira.
The resolution comes nearly a year after decorative items such as silk flowers, and over 200 planters were removed from Oak Grove Cemetery. At that time, Mayor Correia, in a bid to clean up the cemetery, ordered the decorative pieces removed without the knowledge of burial plot onwers. This decision caused an outpouring of disapproval by mourners and their families, who say they have been decorating the burial grounds of loved ones for years without a problem.
Perreira has advocated for the families who lost their planters, and who were made even more upset when the decorative pieces were placed in a heap in an unused part of the cemetery, some f them only to be taken away by passerbys.
The burial plot owners believe the planters should have been cared for by the cemetery’s $1.7 million dollar perpetual care account. Research is now being done to determine the correct use for that account.
In the meantime, Perreira says more attention and care should be given to the city’s cemeteries, and not under the auspices of the city’s park department.
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