EL DORADO COUNTY

PIONEER
CEMETERIES COMMISSION
(a California 501(3)(c) Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation)

MORMON ISLAND CEMETERY:

County's Move to Lease to Green Valley Mortuary
Set "Off Calendar" 

          In December of 2001, the County Counsel and General Services brought a proposal that the County lease the Mormon Island Cemetery to Green Valley Mortuary before the Board of Supervisors.  They asked the board to give its' "approval in concept."  Associate County Counsel, Thomas D. Cumpston, assured the supervisors that Green Valley would operate the Mormon Island Cemetery "as a public cemetery."
          EDCPCC president Sue Silver attended the December meeting of the supervisors to request that the Board not approve, even in concept, the idea of leasing a public cemetery to a private corporation.  Ms. Silver asserted to the supervisors that EDCPCC doubted it was possible for a private corporation to hold a true public trust, and that to lease a public property to a private entity would be "bad public policy."
          Shortly after that meeting, Ms. Silver requested Assemblyman Anthony Pescetti (R-Sacramento) to seek a Legislative Counsel Opinion on this matter of leasing a public cemetery to a private corporation.  That opinion was issued May 29, 2002.  It concluded that the proposed agreement to lease or otherwise have Green Valley Mortuary operate the Mormon Island Cemetery would be illegal.
           Interim to receiving this opinion, however, the Board directed staff to hold public workshops to inform the public of the county's intent in this regard.  Residents living on Shadow Fax Lane, in a subdivision approved in the late 1980s, protested that the reopening of the Mormon Island Cemetery would create havoc on traffic safety and would diminish the value of their homes.  They stated they had been told by the county planning department the cemetery was no longer used for ongoing interments.  Many of them would not have purchased their residential properties otherwise.
          The supervisors placed the item on the January 15, 2002 agenda, and took public comment, most of which was negative.  The Board then directed the County Counsel to review the issues brought up in the meeting and to see if the residents' concerns could not be allayed in some way.  The matter was continued to April 16, 2002, but then continued from that date to July 16, 2002.
          The residents did meet with Associate County Counsel Tom Cumpston, and also met with Supervisor Rusty Dupray.  After his meeting with the residents, Supervisor Dupray advised them he would not support the proposed agreement.
          Sometime in mid-July prior to the July 16, 2002 supervisors meeting, but after the item had been placed on the supervisors agenda, Green Valley Mortuary withdrew its' offer to operate the cemetery.  (Although we believe Green Valley's decision to withdraw this offer occurred much earlier, on July 12 a copy of the Legislative Counsel Opinion was shown to Paul Phipps, the Green Valley partner who had first proposed the offer to lease the cemetery.)
          In summary, the Legislative Counsel Opinion determined there was no statutory authority for the county to lease the Mormon Island Cemetery to a private corporation.  The opinion also noted that if the county did not maintain sufficient administrative control (which the proposed terms and conditions did not support), then the cemetery would no longer be a public cemetery.  A public cemetery of a county must be operated by the county, which the proposed lease or agreement would not have satisfied that requirement.
          Furthermore, the opinion noted that a county does not hold property in its name only, but it holds it in trust for all the people of the state.  In other words, property held by a county actually belongs to the entire State of California.  The county merely acts as a trustee for the State.

Click Here
to read the
Legislative Counsel Opinion

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