METRO FILE PHOTO
Under current Oregon law, a cemetery owner must essentially go through foreclosure to reclaim an abandoned, empty grave. Metro staff believes nearly 400 empty graves are abandoned at the agency's pioneer cemeteries, including Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery, above.
Bills on cemetery management and employee background checks are the highlights of Metro's legislative agenda for the short 2012 session.
The cemetery bill is probably the most substantive bill Metro will push for this year; it would change the way the state declares a vacant grave to be abandoned.
Senate Bill 1537 would allow cemetery owners, including Metro, to declare an empty grave abandoned if the cemetery hasn't heard from the grave owner in 50 years, and if attempts to contact the owner are unsuccessful.
The bill stems from a series of incidents in 2010, when a former Metro employee was mistakenly re-selling empty graves that had been purchased in the 19th and early 20th centuries without going through proper procedure to declare a grave abandoned.
Metro staff said about 400 graves are believed to be abandoned at Metro's 14 pioneer cemeteries. Agency cemeteries manager Rachel Fox said the agency has declared a grave abandoned once since she took over the program in 2009.
Oregon law has a fairly cumbersome procedure for declaring an unused grave abandoned. The law only applies to empty graves that have been abandoned for 40 years, or unkempt and unused for 20 years. Cemetery owners must sue the owner of the grave in court, search property tax rolls for the owner, declare the site to be a nuisance, foreclose on it and then sell it in an auction on the courthouse steps.
"We don't intend to use the current law. The law is so poorly written and confusing as it is that it took us time to read the law and understand what we needed to do," Fox said. The agency put a moratorium on grave sales at two pioneer cemeteries after the 2010 controversy.
The lawsuits and foreclosures would be buried under SB 1537, instead allowing cemetery operators to contact a grave owner at his or her last known address, and post notice in the newspaper and at the cemetery, among other notification procedures. The space can be declared abandoned after 90 days of silence from the plot owner.
The bill's bipartisan co-sponsors include Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, a former Metro councilor. Metro lobbyist Randy Tucker said it's supported by the Cemetery Association of Oregon, the League of Oregon Cities and the Oregon Funeral Directors Association. It's scheduled for a hearing in the Senate General Government, Consumer and Small Business Protection Committee on Wednesday.
The two other pieces of legislation called out by the Metro Council are relatively noncontroversial. House Bill 4024 would allow the Oregon Zoo and other Metro departments to continue to use the Oregon Employment Department's Central Background Registry to conduct background checks on job applicants who work with children. A pilot program was approved by the Legislature in 2009; the House Judiciary Committee has already approved the proposed extension.
"Screening through the Central Background Registry is thorough and reliable," said Oregon Zoo director Kim Smith in testimony to the committee. "It utilizes highly accurate law enforcement databases and includes review of relevant records of child protective services agencies."
Senate Concurrent Resolution 208 memorializes the late Steve Apotheker, a Metro recycling and waste reduction expert who died in 2011.
The resolution has 31 co-sponsors in the House and Senate.
Note - An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the number of graves believed to be abandoned in Metro's pioneer cemeteries. This post has been updated with the correct number.