ADA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Ada Township Clerk Jo DeMarco is driving an effort to address long-overdue maintenance at both the Ada Cemetery and Findlay Cemetery. After extensive walkthroughs with her team, DeMarco began highlighting areas in need of cleanup and repair.
"I did extensive walking throughout both of them with my deputy, Erin McIntosh, and our grounds people, and we immediately began highlighting certain areas that needed cleanup maintenance," DeMarco said.
She feels a personal connection to cemeteries because when visiting her own family, it had always been a place of peace, quiet, and solace for her. DeMarco aims to recreate that for people coming to visit their loved ones at both of the Ada cemeteries.
After assessing the cemetery grounds, Jo decided to come up with a plan, dividing what could be addressed immediately by grounds people and what work required for a contractor.
Before this, DeMarco tells me that the previous cemetery ordinance had an abundance of unauthorized elements that prohibited their ground maintenance. For DeMarco, it was necessary to put together an operational plan, she says, "I just put a better order into the whole flow of operation. What happens when, how our communication is going to transpire between all three components, the township, the contractors and the funeral home directors, plus the families as well." presenting her fellow board members with that plan last February.
Some of the improvements include the installation of new columbarium units at the Ada Cemetery, partnered with a visitation area that is expected to be completed by mid-September. DeMarco is also looking to shave down a hill and widen the pavement on a curved section of the road, as well as clean up surrounding shrubbery.
She is also looking to address an old tree that poses a danger for visitors and headstones. "You've got big chucks of tree branch just falling on all these headstones, they could break," says DeMarco
Additionally, the team plans to paint the fence surrounding the trash area and install new signage that can help direct visitors.
"Deputy McIntosh designed some new signs for the front and back entrances, as well as trash, so people know where there's a trash container. We're going to paint the fence and put these gorgeous new signs on there," DeMarco said. These are just some of the maintenance their team is working on for both cemeteries.
These maintenance efforts are being funded through an increase in fees.
"That is one of the reasons and rationales for the increase in our fees, it's the time and labor of our employees, but it's also for the upkeep and maintenance and preventative measures to make both cemeteries a wonderful place to visit our relatives and loved ones as well as a safe place," DeMarco said.
DeMarco emphasized that these improvements are just the start, as the required maintenance of the cemeteries will be ongoing.
"They will never be complete, because our required maintenance of the cemeteries will be ongoing forever, for all eternity," DeMarco said.
DeMarco is asking families to remove any items placed outside of headstones, including benches, as soon as possible to allow the ground crew to safely continue their work and so that other visitors can also visit without any potential dangers. Families have until the end of September to come collect things on their own before they are removed by the grounds people.
For more information you can visit, http://adamichigan.org/township/services/cemetery
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