By Natalie Andrews

December 13, 2005 | NORTH LOGAN -- It's a city that calls itself "the best place to call home." It's only a home to the living, however. Its residents, although they might be born and raised in the small city, must find somewhere else to be buried when they die.

There is no cemetery in North Logan. City Administrator Jeff Jorgensen says it is the only city in the county, save those smaller than 500 people, without one.

"The cemetery is moving forward," Jorgensen said. "The City Council is considering an ordinance this Thursday that establishes the policies and procedures for the cemetery."

Progress is slow in a rapidly developing city. The city bought 55 acres of open space six years ago with a park and cemetery in mind. According to the option to purchase, the city paid $8,000 to hold the property Sept. 15, 1999. The city was able to reserve the land from Stanley Smith to decide on whether or not to purchase it. Regardless of the final purchase, the city committed the first payment.

"We were going to do some investigation," Jorgensen said. "We [North Logan] didn't want to go into debt for it."

Though a city council can purchase land without consulting residents, according to Jorgensen, the current mayor and council promised residents that they would be able to approve the purchase through a vote.

At the mention of a vote comes controversy. Without waiting for a vote, the city turned the hold into a down payment. According to the option, the land was divided into 10 five-acre subparcels, with one to be given each year. The city started buying the land parcel by parcel, paying $81,503 every year. It will own the property in 2009. In the end, the city would have paid $815,034 for the land, but an agreement has since been made since 1999 to buy just nine of the parcels. The resulting cost will be $100,000 less. It was later determined that the residents could not vote for or against a cemetery.

"You can't have an opinion question on a ballot unless that opinion is approved by the State Legislature," Jorgensen said.

Approval from the legislature on an opinion question wouldn't bind the council to anything. Jorgensen used the example that if 60 percent said no, it doesn't mean that the city can't have a cemetery; the question acts as a poll telling the council the public's opinion.

Still, the lack of a vote sparked a fire during the elections this fall. Council candidate Richard Marlowe's full platform was the unfairness of a lack of a vote or consultation of residents over the cemetery.

"It was a one issue candidacy," he said. "That's really all I was running for -- Mayor Potter could have had an election at any time, but he just didn't want to do it."

Marlowe received 10 percent of residents' votes and said several times while running that he wasn't seeking to win, but to raise awareness about the promised vote.

The debated land remains a snowed-covered blanket cradled in the mountain's crook. Jorgensen said that many residents have expressed a desire to reserve plots in their hometown, but others want to wait until the area is covered with grass. When the land is finally developed the cemetery part of the 52 acres will take about a fifth of the space.

Because of the spark surrounding the election, city councilmen Trent Wentz and Mark Williams asked Jorgensen to write up details about the vote in a fact sheet published on the city website.

Though an opinion question couldn't be on the list, Jorgensen said that a city has four choices. The council could create an ordinance, which the public would vote upon, though it wouldn't create a way to fund the maintenance of the cemetery. An ordinance could be written that would prohibit the city from establishing a cemetery, though the council could override it later.

The issue could also find its way on the ballot should it seek to require a cemetery district. According to the fact sheet, Hyde Park already has a cemetery district, which some North Logan residents pay to be buried in the neighboring town. Establishing the district would pay for cemetery development and maintenance because resident's taxes would be raised. The city can establish and fund a cemetery either way.

Should the city need to borrow money at any point for land, development, or upkeep of the cemetery, the issue would need to go on the ballot as a bond election. North Logan did this when building the library, the fact sheet states. However, this decision doesn't obligate further councils, or change the budget.

According to the fact sheet, Utah code prohibits budget changes on the ballot. Instead, the city's annual budget hearings have approved money for the cemetery land every year since 1999.

While the initiative, district, and bond election would allow for a vote, Jorgensen says that the best option is for the city is for residents to vote for city council members who share their views. As on any issue, the city council represents their constituents, and a council has the authority to purchase property without consulting the public.

Jorgenson said that the cemetery issue really isn't a voting issue at all, but a development issue. The city still needs to build a bridge across the canal in order to develop the land enough to use it as a cemetery.

"Every year we have tried to put some funds into the cemetery's development but it needs about $150,000 per year to really get it up and going," he said. "The city has just not been able to find the funds to do that to this point."

Council members Elaine Nelson and Steve Soulier both support paying for the cemetery land. Newly elected mayor Cary Watkins said, when running for office, that he was wary of how much money the cemetery could end up costing the city, but believes that a cemetery would be good for the city.

In a town that is home to only the living, though all sources and new council members would like to be buried in North Logan, it may take the shovel in the first hole for people to stop calling the land below the hills Stanley's field.

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