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During the October 3rd Eagle Mountain City Council meeting the council unanimously agreed to give the city authorization to use $63,326.00 to give the Eagle Mountain Cemetery an upgrade. The $63K will be used to install a Pergola, or a Gazebo on the southern end of the cemetery. There was some joking by the City Council during the meeting if it was really a Pergola or a Gazebo, but they all agreed that it should be built.
The Gazebo will be built on a 30 foot square concrete area at the southern end of the cemetery. During previous work on the Cemetery city staff put in water and electrical connections for this project. Because these connections were already in place, the cost of adding the new amenities to the cemetery was reduced. The area around the gazebo will have roughly 11,000 square feet of grass installed. Irrigation will be added for watering the grass, and twenty new trees that will also be installed. Fencing was also included to protect any of the irrigation equipment that will be above ground.
The funding for the project will come from a $14,530.37 TRCC (Tourism, Recreation, Cultural and Convention) grant that is administered through Utah County and collected as part of the counties Tourism, Recreation, Cultural and Convention Facilities Tax, $10,000 from the 2017 City Budget allocated to the cemetery, $13,895.63 from funds generated by the cemetery, and $25,000 from the Utility Sale Proceeds allocated previously to the cemetery. The cemetery currently has sold 87 grave sites, and has facilitated 25 interments. If you have not been to the cemetery before, it is located in City Center on Eagle Mountain Blvd, west of the Eagle Mountain Blvd and Pony Express round about.
The City Council also approved up to an additional $5,000 above the $63K for the city to use to add some benches and lighting in the area as well. The $5,000 additional is to come from money already allocated in the budget to the cemetery. The Council and City Staff discussed adding a flag pole to the area as well. The Council instructed staff to look into the ability to add the flag pole as another project. The Cemetery still has funds that will cover the addition of the flag pole without City Council approval. The questions that needed to be answered in regards to the flag pole were around the number of poles, three verses a single pole, and if the pole could have two flags instead of just one flag. It was also discussed about the possibility of re purposing a flag pole that is being replaced as part of the Cory Wride Memorial park improvements.
Eagle Mountain has a Cemetery Advisory Board that has been working hard to make the Cemetery something that the residents of Eagle Mountain will find beneficial. The board currently has four members, Steve Conger, Jared Gray, Corbett Douglas and Marianne Smith. The City Council liaison is Benjamin Reaves. The board meets monthly with the next meeting being on October 25th, the last meeting for 2017 will be held on November 29th, there will not be a meeting in December. They will probably be discussing the flag pole suggestion and ways to make that improvement come to pass. Previous upgrades included fencing and a entry monument.
Mike Kieffer is an IT geek by hobby and trade, with a BS in Information Systems & Technology. He is a proud father of 10, a grandpa, an author, a journalist, and internet publisher. His motto is to “Elevate, Inspire and Inform”, and he is politically conservative and a Christian. Mike has a passion for technology, writing, and helping others. With a wealth of experience, he is committed to sharing his knowledge with others to help them reach their full potential. He is known for his jackassery or his form of self-expression that encourages boldness, creativity, and risk-taking. It can be a way to push the boundaries and challenge traditional norms, leading to creative solutions and positive change.