Tri-County Citizen

Mausoleum will inherit door from old cemetery garage




CHESANING – The Chesaning Township Board has decided to demolish the old garage at Wildwood Cemetery instead of repairing the roof.

During the June 7 meeting of the Chesaning Township Board, Supervisor Bob Corrin informed council members that it would cost them approximately $4,500 to repair the very steep roof on the old garage.

Board members discussed whether the garage should be preserved. Initially, Trustee Ken Hornak spoke in favor of preserving the garage; just like the mausoleum. However, Trustee Bill Hedrich, a member of the Cemetery Committee, pointed out, “The mausoleum had a purpose. This building doesn’t.”

According to Corrin, the old garage hadn’t been used in years.

Members of the Cemetery Committee believe it would cost more to repair the roof than to demolish the structure. The mausoleum was a different situation. There are bodies inside that would have had to be relocated if they had decided to tear it down. It would have cost the township a fortune to relocate the bodies. There were also health risks to consider with relocating the bodies.

As far as the garage goes, Hedrich said, “We assume it would be cheaper to tear it down and turn it into cemetery plots.”

Corrin pointed out that the steel door on the garage would be a good match the mausoleum. He asked Trustee Pete Hemgesberg, who is also on the Cemetery Committee, if the steel door on the garage would fit the mausoleum; and Hemgesberg confirmed it would. That solves the problem of finding another steel door that would compliment the architecture of the mausoleum.

Trustee Kevin Carlton stated, “Then we’re still looking [for] doors if we keep [the garage].” (The township board has done the mausoleum renovation project in stages, to spread out the cost.)

Hedrich asked Hemgesberg, “If we move the doors, will it save us any money?”

Hemgesberg responded, “Yes, we’ll save some money.”

Hornak suggested they find a cheaper option for repairing the garage roof instead.

Corrin explained to him, “It’s the pitch of the roof [that drives the cost up].”

Hornak proposed they install new rafters to change the roof line. To which Corrin responded, explaining that costs would skyrocket in that case.

Hemgesberg concluded, “It’s one more building we have to keep up.”

Corrin added, “We don’t need a [garage], we have a pole barn [for storage].”

Hedrich stated, “If we were going to go back into having caretakers, then the building would have a purpose.”

“We would have to tear it down, or repair the roof. The roof has holes. If you’re going to keep the building, you have to put a roof on it,” Corrin stated. He added that moving the door from the garage to the mausoleum “will be more aesthetic than something else.”

Hedrich said, “I move we tear [the garage] down. You’ll regain the cost from the plots.”

The board voted unanimously to demolish the old garage, transferring the steel door to the mausoleum.


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