$7,000 Voted for Face Lift of Public Cemetery in Simi Valley
The Simi Valley Public Cemetery, which local residents complain has been neglected, will get a $7,000 face lift.
By a 4-0 vote, the cemetery’s board of directors agreed at its monthly meeting on Wednesday to contract with the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District to clear weeds around graves and repair damaged headstones.
“It’s a quick cleanup so that the cemetery will look more acceptable to those who have been complaining,” board member Neil Havens said.
In addition, the board advertised in this month’s edition of a statewide cemetery trade magazine for a new full-time caretaker. In October, as complaints about the upkeep at the graveyard escalated, caretaker Dale Honsinger resigned, saying he wanted to earn more than the $500-a-month salary paid to the facility’s groundskeeper.
About 1,100 Graves
The city’s oldest graveyard, with about 1,100 graves, the cemetery is governed by a five-member volunteer board appointed by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. Its budget of about $46,000 is financed from the sale of grave sites, related fees and from county taxes.
The $7,000 will come from a fund set aside for perpetual care of the grounds, Havens said, and will be used to better maintain the grounds and repair gravestones that have sunk or cracked because they were improperly set.
Ron Thompson, one of the critics of cemetery conditions, welcomed the board’s action Friday, saying, “I hope this is going to get it off the ground.”
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