On July 8, the Tulare County Board of Supervisors held its first meeting as the Tulare Public Cemetery District. The meeting was the first after the supervisors voted on July 1 to dissolve the cemetery district’s board and appoint themselves as cemetery district trustees.
The agenda focused on housekeeping issues – which the new trustees efficiently instituted while allowing the public ample time to voice their concerns.
In keeping with the current makeup of the Board of Supervisors, Pete Vander Poel was voted in as the cemetery board’s chair, and Supervisor Amy Shuklian was elected vice chair.
District Manager Clara Bernardo was appointed as the secretary of the cemetery board.
The cemetery district’s bylaws were amended to reflect county requirements and to correct inconsistencies with California’s Health and Safety Code. The new bylaws were approved by the supervisors acting as the cemetery board trustees.
The board also assigned new account managers to sign checks on their Bank of Sierra account: Vander Poel, Shuklian and Bernardo.
The supervisors also verbally agreed to waive any compensation for conducting cemetery district meetings and will have the final vote on the issue next meeting.
The board also approved a schedule of future cemetery district meetings.
Public comment: needless drama or unresolved issues?
The supervisors have expressed a desire to move forward from past issues, but public comment was dominated by issues that speakers say can’t be left in the past.
Tulare resident Anna Limon made a copy of a pre-need cemetery contract for the supervisors and claimed it is not professional nor adequate.
Her main concerns are allegedly unsubstantiated costs and the fact that her children will have to deal with issues that are supposed to be addressed in the pre-need arrangements.
Former Trustee Alberto Aguilar gave examples of corrections made to the cemetery district’s bylaws over the years that were never put into official documents. He recommended the supervisors look back on old meetings to familiarize themselves with the changes voted on by the former cemetery trustees.
The most explosive issue at Tulare Cemetery has been the past burying of bodies in the wrong graves, misplacing bodies, and exhumations. Aguilar said that despite the fact that the Verification Committee, formed to ensure that bodies were correctly placed in assigned plots, found many errors in the burial procedures, it was ultimately disbanded.
The cemetery’s financial reports garnered the most concern.
Tulare resident Mary Sepeda asked, “Where are the financials? Is the public going to be able to see them?”
She noted that there were no financials in the supervisors’ lengthy agenda packet.
“As of right now there is no revolving fund. They pulled all the money out of the county,” Aguilar said.
There was no revolving fund for fiscal year 2024/2025, according to Aguilar.
Former Trustee Charlie Ramos replied that the resolution to rescind the withdrawal of the revolving funds from control of the county treasurer never took place because of the ten second cemetery meeting-that-wasn’t on May 22.
Bernardo said that bills are being paid as they were previous to the vote to end the revolving fund.
Former Trustee Xavier Avila said he has voted no on every financial item brought up at district meetings because they were never given the June 2024 financials.
Avila claimed former Trustee Steve Presant said the County made a mistake on the cemetery’s financial reports, so they could not be approved by the board – but Avila believes the mistake was done internally.
Avila also brought up what he believes is $200,000 in restricted funds that are currently being used improperly for operational costs. He said that “Alberto caught the mistake” but Avila feels the mistake was intentional and is still happening.
Vander Pole said, “It’s important to me to have good, clean, publicly available financial statements.”
Operation overview
The last item on the agenda was an operation overview to be presented by Bernardo.
Bernardo spoke about her relationship with other cemetery managers to try and figure out where Tulare Cemetery got off course.
“Are our issues any different than any other cemetery? They are not,” she said.
Bernardo concluded that Tulare Cemetery’s problems stem from the fact they conduct burials and maintain the grounds of two cemeteries, not just one like Visalia.
Bernardo explained that the district cannot sustain the expenses of two cemeteries based on the tax revenue they receive from the county.
She then gave personal testimony on how she grieved during the burial of her son and how she wanted to help others grieve by offering them more options than a basic burial or niche for cremains such as memorial trees.
“I want a beautiful cemetery. My son is there. My dad is there and I plan on being buried there,” she said.
Vander Poel addressed Bernardo saying this meeting was to “learn about who you are and why you are driven to do what you do,” but requested that in future meetings “I’d like to hear how operations are going in the cemetery.”
Supervisors, now trustees, want to move forward
Shuklian said during trustee comments, “Everybody’s got their shots in at Clara. This is a time for us to move forward. We know everything that’s happened in the past.
Micari concurred. “I don’t care what happened two years ago. I’m done with drama. If this is the way your meetings went it’s no wonder you are in a position you are in now. Absolutely total dysfunction.”
“We are going to run it like a business,” added Micari. “If you want to call me about drama – don’t bother, because I’m going to tell you we are done talking.”