Buried: plan to privatize Sonoma’s cemeteries

“Forty people does not a community make,” said Sonoma City Council member August Sebastiani, reflecting on the passions of those who voiced their opinions in a recent Town Hall meeting, “but I think those 40 people very clearly represent the sentiments of the vast majority of the community.”
Sebastiani is chair of the ad hoc committee formed to solve the problem of the cemeteries’ financial shortfall by considering private sale. He said that sale of public cemeteries is not unknown. “You can Google it,” he said. (A Google search turned up “Gravesolutions.com,” one entry in a long list.)
Sebastiani said the citizens who voiced strong, passionate opposition to the idea of private sale were not just those guarding the memories of folks many generations past, but those whose memories were more recent, too. “A lot of those sentiments certainly resonated with me,” he said.
The ad hoc committee will recommend to the City Council that sale of the cemeteries is not in the best interest of the community. “I can’t tell how the council will receive that,” Sebastiani said, adding that, “The staff report will be focused on the sale but will touch on some suggestions for the future.” He said they would probably reconvene the ad hoc committee with a new intention such as to make general cemetery infrastructure recommendations. He said they would be looking to a variety of solutions to help. “There may be public sentiment to organize a Friends of the Cemetery,” he said, “or fundraise for the endowment specifically, and look at alternative ways to get cash into the fund.”
At issue is the $80,000 to $90,000 annual deficit incurred by the three city-owned cemeteries: the 4-acre Valley Cemetery, deeded to the city in 1835 by General Vallejo; the 60-acre Mountain Cemetery, founded in 1841 on land deeded to the city by General Vallejo; and the 1.6-acre Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, acquired in 1996 and developed in 2002. The ad hoc committee was chaired by Sebastiani and included Mayor Ken Brown, City of Sonoma Public Works Director Milenka Bates, City Historian George McKale, Assistant City Manager Carol Giovanato, Robert Arnold of the Sonoma Veterans Association, and Duffy Conneely, funeral director at Duggan’s Mission Chapel.